Northampton GP tweets about 'bleak primary care' system

A family doctor said he resorted to social media to "share how bleak primary care is".

Delapre Medical Centre in Northampton was last rated as inadequate by inspectors and Dr Jamie Green said it was "stretched beyond capacity".

He said that he did not believe the surgery could survive with the current general practice contract in place and the increase to minimum wage.

The government said it was "committed to improving access to GPs".

Dr Green posted a long thread on X, formerly Twitter, which has been shared more than 300 times.

He said: "The increased workload, soaring costs, and falling income are unsustainable.

"We're now forced to consider what services to cut, jeopardizing patient care."

He added that the issues were "replicated across the country" and "it's massive, it's scary".

Speaking to the BBC, Dr Green added: "In the past couple of years, there have been some huge changes that have put us in a situation that is completely uncontrollable.

"We've looked at what's happening with things like the national minimum wage, looked at what the government have offered [in] the GP contract and, ultimately, I don't think we can survive if this is the way it's going to go."

The surgery relied on income from the GP contract and all of his costs had to come out of that income, he explained.

Dr Amanda Doyle, the NHS's national director for primary care and community services, wrote to family doctors last month outlining the proposed contract for 2024-25.

He said: "80% of my costs are staff, and, if staff costs go up so dramatically, we're left with next to nothing.

"We've got to a stage where it's becoming unviable and I'll end up pretty much working for nothing."

He said he was proud about what the surgery had done since the inadequate grading but "it's a horrible situation for all of our staff when we can't deliver enough service".

He urged the government to put more funding into primary care so "we don't see more practices falling over".

The Department of Health and Social Care said it was committed to improving access to GPs and claimed it was "delivering 50 million more GP appointments per year".

Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email [email protected] or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830