NEWS: GPs warn of funding crisis

As reported by GP Online, BMA campaign highlights severe underfunding of GP practices, urging patients to advocate for better support during the election

The campaign, called ‘GPs are on your side’, warns that general practice is ‘collapsing’, and that ‘every practice across England is struggling to keep its doors open’ – calling on patients to speak up about pressures on general practice during the general election.

Acknowledging that patients have ‘probably noticed that something is wrong’ with general practice, the campaign highlights chronic underfunding – and says that, like patients, GPs believe ‘nobody should struggle to see their family doctor’.

The campaign points the finger at ‘mismanagement of the NHS’ – explaining that GP practices in England receive just ‘£107.57 per year for each patient, whatever their health needs’.

 

GP funding

‘That’s less than the cost of an annual TV licence,’ the campaign points out – and comes to less per day than the cost of an apple.

The campaign says: ‘General Practice should be as it once was – a familiar family doctor, offering continuity of care in a surgery full of friendly familiar faces within a safe building where you knew you would get the care you needed.’

More than 1,000 GP practices have been lost over the past decade in England and more than 10,000 GPs have retired or left the NHS, it warns.

The campaign says: ‘We believe general practice deserves a bigger slice of NHS funding so we can train and hire more GPs, deliver the services you require and make it easier for you and your loved ones to get appointments to see your GP and practice team. GPs want the same things that you do. We believe nobody should struggle to see their family doctor.’

 

Campaign posters

The campaign offers a selection of posters and materials that practices can use in their waiting rooms or on social media – and invites patients to ask election candidates what they plan to do to save general practice.

It also urges patients to join patient participation groups to ‘support and influence’ the way services are delivered at their local practice.

The campaign comes as the BMA GP committee aims to make the crisis facing general practice a doorstep issue during campaigning ahead of the 4 July general election.

The BMA says GP funding has been eroded by more than 50% over the past 15 years and that the 2024/25 contract imposed on the profession will drive a fresh wave of practice closures.