General practice is “under severe threat of extinction,” RCGP chair warns

The chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners has warned that general practice was under severe threat of extinction and has called for the “imbalance” in NHS funding between primary and secondary care to be redressed.

“General practice as we know it is now under severe threat of extinction,” Maureen Baker said. “It is imploding faster than people realise, and patients are already bearing the brunt of the problem. This will only get worse unless urgent action is taken to redress the huge and historic imbalance in funding.”

Baker’s comments came in response to a survey commissioned by the royal college and conducted by the market research agency ComRes earlier this month. The survey found that 62% of the UK public believes that the high number of patient consultations that GPs are now conducting each day is a threat to the standard of care provided by GPs. Sixty per cent of the 1007 British adults surveyed said that they would like to see some funding moved from other parts of the health service into general practice.

Baker said it was no longer possible to guarantee a future general practice that could provide excellent care to patients. She said, “For generations GPs have been the bedrock of the NHS and provided excellent care for patients. But we can no longer guarantee a future for general practice as our patients know it, rely on it, and love it.

“GPs are doing all they can, but we are being seriously crippled by a toxic mix of increasing workloads and ever dwindling budgets, which is leaving patients waiting too long for an appointment and not receiving the time or attention they need and that GPs want to give them.”

Figures from the college show that general practice deals with around 90% of contacts with patients in the NHS but receives only 8.4% of the NHS budget.

Baker said that cutting funding in general practice was a “false economy.” She said, “The four governments of the UK must wake up to the critical state that general practice is now in.

“We need proper provision in the 2014-15 budget rounds right across the UK so that GPs can give their patients the care that they need. If this doesn’t happen, we have grave concerns for the sustainability of the NHS,” she said.

Her college and the National Association for Patient Participation recently launched a major campaign calling for general practice funding to be increased from 8.4% to 11% of the UK NHS budget by 2017.