Janice R. Andrews
General Practitioners (GPs) in England are planning to go on strike because the Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, said that their group was “saber-rattling.” The head of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) GPs group, Dr. Katie Bramall-Stainer, said that doctors might quit if the government doesn’t do something about their problems.
Funding cuts and a controversial new contract are at the heart of the disagreement. As a result, GP surgeries across England have taken “work-to-rule” steps. Some doctors are cutting back on visits by up to 50% and refusing to follow certain NHS rules as part of these steps meant to mess up NHS services.
Dr. Bramall-Stainer said on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” show that what is happening now is not a strike, but he warned that GPs could take things to a bigger level if the government doesn’t move quickly to meet their needs.
The NHS says that GP partners, who are mostly family doctors, make an average of £140,200 a year, even though many of them only work part-time. But Dr. Bramall-Stainer said that GPs are under a lot of stress, which has led to alarmingly high numbers of mental health problems in the field. It was sad to hear that one in four general practitioners knows a peer who has killed themselves. In fact, her own GP died in 2021.
“General practice is collapsing now,” Dr. Bramall-Stainer said, calling for action right away. We can’t wait for long-term plans or reviews of our spending.
In some way or another, more than 80% of GP offices have already started to work together. As anger grows, the BMA is pushing more GPs to join the effort.
When the union did these things, Wes Streeting told them to stop “sabre-rattling” and told the BMA they should work with the government to make healthcare better. The GPs’ union, on the other hand, seems set on stepping up their efforts unless their worries are quickly handled.
Tense situations are still there, and a full-scale strike could happen if talks don’t go anywhere.
