Warning as GP surgeries face closure for up to a WEEK as strike looms

One in three GPs has threatened to close their doors for a week to protest the pay, polls show.

GPs warn they will join consultants and interns on the picket line if they don’t get more money on their contract next year.

1

A survey by the medical magazine among 362 general practitioner partners pulse found that 54 percent would stop their routine appointments for a day, while 31 percent would stop using their tools for a week.

dr Kieran Sharrock of the British Medical Association (BMA) said: “GPs have made it clear they will consider industrial action.

“The government needs to negotiate a contract that adequately reflects the challenges in general medicine and gives practices the support they need to provide patient care.”

This comes after young doctors and consultants at the BMA went on strike last week despite a pay rise that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described as a “last offer”.

Already this year, NHS strikes have seen 700,000 appointments and surgeries canceled and dashed attempts to cut waiting lists.

dr Pete Deveson, a GP in Surrey, said he would be “very pleased” to go on strike to “improve the pay and conditions of NHS doctors”.

Employed general practitioners in England earn between £65,000 and £98,000, up six per cent this month.

However, that pay rise in the Pulse survey did not include GP partners who perform surgeries and take home an average of £140,000.

The NHS is currently facing a shortage of GPs as the heavy workload and burnout mean many give up.

Some medics fear the closure of surgeries could make their situation worse.

One said: “The workload is already overwhelming, a day off would only add to the work of the following days.”

Over half of GPs, 51 percent, said they would take industrial action by simply sending patients to their local hospital instead of seeing them.

Six in 10 said they would consider diverting all patients to NHS 111 and emergency departments for a day.

Another GP warned against shifting the blame to other parts of the NHS.

“There would be no point in rerouting to 111, they would just send it back,” they said.

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “Government expenditure on general medicine increased by just over a fifth in real terms between 2016 and 2021.”

“Through our primary care recovery plan, we’re also helping GPs manage the 8am rush using technology, enabling better access to appointments and reducing waiting times, supported by £240million funding.”

New figures suggest that one in six people waited at least two weeks to see a GP in England in the past year.

Several thousand had to reckon with the time between booking and their appointment in the twelve months up to May.

The data was released by the Liberal Democrats, who are demanding ministers hire 8,000 more GPs.