General Practice and the NHS Posted or Updated on 29 Jul 2025

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Did you know? General practice is the only part of the NHS...
... whose very nature is as deeply embedded into the UK psyche as the NHS itself.
People say: "You need to see your GP".  People don't say "you need to see your..." (well anything else actually).
... that has significantly and consistently done more and more year on year with less and less.
Sadly no requisite increase in staff, funding or resources. And sadly government knows this and therefore has no incentive to increase funding.
... that readily liaises with every other speciality.
Everything goes through your GP even when it might not always be appropriate
... that remains the most accessible to the population.
The front door of the NHS for most people.  We know it's difficult to get in, but that's because it definitely is accessible. 1.3 million people know this every day.
... that provides truly holistic (whole person) care for all ages.
No other service comes anywhere near.
... that looks after you from the cradle to grave
Where long-serving GP staff grow, along with their patients and their families over decades.
There really is nothing like General Practice!

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What GPs and their teams get up to
Did you know?
Busy phone lines, face to face appointments. The only things of general practice that the media and the public ever talk about. But there's much more to general practice than these.
Medication requests / reviews. Running the business. Dealing with results. IT updates, Document management. Flu jabs. Care home ward rounds. Actioning letters. Medical / insurance reports. Managing complaints. Secondary care requests. Regular appraisal. Screening programmes. Home visits. Video chat. Signposting. Patient registration and dealing with PCSE. Fielding patient queries. Extended hours. Chronic disease management. Phone consultations. Working with multi-disciplinary teams. Supporting vulnerable patients. Nursing care / procedures. Safeguarding meetings. Minor ops. Completing tasks. Public health. Meeting QOF targets. Enhanced services. HR. Text campaigns. CQC compliance. Team / staff training. Going green. Staff supervision / mentoring. Learning disability reviews. Childhood imms. Repeat prescriptoins. Health board monitoring. Responding to political nonsense. Hospital referrals. GP training. Specialist clinics. Working with network neighbourhood practices. Meeting targets.

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The Positive Impact of General Practice.
Did you know? Impact of general practice.
General practice is more tha just dishing out antibiotics, sick notes and sending people to hospital. Each extra GP per 10,000 people reduces death rates by at least 6%, and as much as 15% reduction for heart disease.
You have a 25% reduced chance of dying if you have continuity with the same GP for 15 years.
Every single GP saves at least 5 lives each year in preventative medicine.
General practice is definitely worth investing in.

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GP Shortage Explained
Why can't I get an appointment? Fewer GPs/ The number of permanent qualified GPs has fallen by 4% over the past 5 years - you know the reasons.
But aren't there more GPs in training?
More traininees. Yes you're right, the number of GP trainees is up by 60% over the same time period.
So why aren't GP surgeries hiring? No funding. GP surgeroes haven't got enough funding to hire all the staff they need.
But didn't government just announce funding for 1,000 GPs? (official NHS figures indicate only 88 GPs recruited as of October 31st 2024. We actually need 1,400 more GP's just to get back to 2015 levels let alone 2024. 1,000 fresh faced desparate for work GPs equates to about a tenth of a doctor per practice - no way enough.
Won't this still mean newly qualified GPs out of work? Well...