We can’t cope with demand of extra houses’ says Wrexham GP practice
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Alyn Family Doctors is currently consulting on plans to close Gresford Health Centre and relocate patients to its branches in Rossett and Llay, saysing they cannot cope with new developments in Rossett. Well don’t close the Gresford center then. The NHS should train & employ more dr’s not try & stop new needed housing stock.
New housing is needed everywhere in the country, if that maxes out Dr’s practices & schools, then more Dr’s should be recruited, trained & school places increased.
Exactly where are they going to find these doctors to recruit?
There’s already a large number of unfilled vacancies.You can only train people if the want to be trained, courses are undersubscribed and those in training often don’t want the pressures that come with being a GP.
Training a GP takes about 10 years.
It took a few years for my last doctor to find a replacement so he could retire!
Research by the Nuffield Trust found that the number of GPs per 100,000 people across the UK has fallen from a high of around 67 in 2009 to 60 in 2018. That’s a similar number of GPs per person today as there were in 2004.
Factors like an ageing population could mean that we need more GPs to keep up with demand.
I think that the link AMA Express provided spells out the problem. The number of GP’s has risen but the number of hours on average they are working has fallen. They get paid so much they can afford to work a 2-3 day week and still live a comfortable lifestyle.
This is far from a new problem. For many years we have been warned that the number of doctors wanting to enter general practice resulting in a reduced supply of new GPs. Furthermore, the problem has been amplified by the issue that the current cohort of GPs are nearer to retirement age and are retiring. The number of new GPs does not meet current, yet increasing demand.
The doctors who have spent a great deal of money on their university degree, quite rightly, can decide where they want to work and what specialism they wish to follow. I understand that this creates quite a few difficulties elsewhere in the U.K. so are not unique to Wrexham. Some places are more popular than others, and others provide greater opportunities to progress their career. Many doctors do not want to enter the specialism of general practice due to the nature of the work. GP surgeries are not run by the NHS, and they are private businesses that the local health board contracts to provide a certain level of service. It does not appear to be an appealing personal financial investment when you consider the challenging funding situation due to the Welsh Assembly’s, often inappropriate, division of its resources to other matters.
Betsi Cadwaladr creates a significant problem. Some of our GPs enter training for that specialism after being junior doctors practising within the health board hospitals. The potential for recruiting junior doctors to our local hospitals is a problem as many specialisms are contracted out to other health authorities, so it is not worth them coming to our local hospitals. A doctors reputation is essential for career progression, so coming to a health authority that remains in special measures is not very attractive. Furthermore, with all the complaints about waiting lists, insufficient resources et cetra, why would any doctor choose work in this health board?
In addition to the UK problems about recruiting GPs, we must look at the additional problems caused by Betsi Cadwaladr. Furthermore, the Welsh Assembly who has the devolved responsibility for health that has failed continuously to resolve the poor performance of Betsi Cadwaladr.
Government caused the problem, the changes to the GP funding & pensions, has forced many to go part time or retire early otherwise they would have to much pension (terrible problem to have) But still we need houses, the house prices prove that, they are all at least 40% over priced. More 2 bedroom started homes & cheaper rented houses are needed.
So government & NHS should change the financial intensives, wages & the rules for NEW GPS to less go part time & retire early.
The Chinese Government played around with restrictions on the number of children that people could have. The Nazis played around with Eugenics. The Brexiteers are currently supporting a Leave EU option in part because of high immigration levels.
All have been panned by some people for their Politics, some deservedly so
The country has moved rapidly through the gears on the population front and is hitting around the 70 million rapidly. Not only that, but more people than ever before are living in ultra-nuclear family situations….that is, all by themselves. Besides building more houses in every nook or cranny of the country, can anyone suggest anything different. Whilst I can see the difficulty that more housing can provoke, the normal historic experience is that Shops, Schools and Doctor’s Surgeries tend to follow quite rapidly. If the planners pulled their fingers out, these would accompany the developments not follow on.
The truth is, however, that we can’t have this both ways. Unless, of course, we’re merely Nimby-ish
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