The international crisis that is GP pressure

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) recently held its annual conference and brought together 3,000 GP from around the world

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on RCGPs

The RCGP conference was in partnership with the European branch of the world association of family doctor. The shared joy within the field of general practice is reported to have been was palpable.

It was clear that GPs felt strong pride in serving their patients, working for their communities and helping to keep each nation’s health systems running.

Those in attendance spoke on the future of the practice, the innovations in what we do and how we do it – but they also shared their pains, some of which were unique and others similar; most international family doctor seemed to agree that they were currently experiencing a crisis.

As in the UK, other nations are also struggling with increased workloads, problems with recruitment and retention, lack of investment and burn-out, as well as a lack of government action.

So if, despite differences in national cultures and health systems, we have a common problem, what’s going on? Why is this happening and what can we do about such a global crisis?

The answer could be that there exists a deep-seated lack of understanding of general practice amongst our political and health leaders. Everyone knows (hopefully) of the function and importance of hospitals, but perhaps not general practice. If you understand general practice, it is easy present a case for more investment.

For now, it seems we must all, around the world, continue with our calls and pressure for change.