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RCGP GPs Survey

Poll of 251 GPs on perceptions of General Practice for the Royal College of General Practictioners.

Date Published: 10 May 2014

Categories: Health | Professionals | Public Sector | Social | UK

Description

 

EIGHT IN TEN GPs FEAR MISSING SERIOUS ILLNESS IN PATENTS DUE TO WORKLOAD

 

Around eight in ten GPs (84%) say they worry about missing a serious condition in a patient due to their workloads, according to new research published today.

The findings are contained in a poll commissioned by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), which also shows that 91% of family doctors feel that general practice does not have sufficient resources to deliver high quality patient care.

The results of the poll, conducted by ComRes, come as concerns have increasingly been raised publicly that the level of investment in general practice is too low to ensure safe patient care.

When asked to what extent they worried about missing something serious with a patient because of their workload, three in ten GPs (29%) said they worried a great deal, while over half (55%) said they worried a fair amount.

The survey also revealed that only 7% of family doctors feel that general practice is sufficiently resourced in order to deliver high quality patient care. Meanwhile, 96% of GPs said that morale has decreased over the last five years.

In addition, the poll showed that 96% of GPs find working in general practice stressful.

According to the survey, 70% of GPs believe that the provision of general practice, as we know it today, will not still exist in ten years’ time.

The funding crisis for general practice is now so serious that while 90% of NHS patient contacts are conducted within general practice it only receives 8.39% of the NHS budget.

Research by Deloitte shows that if current trends continue, funding for general practice will decline by 17% over the next three years, leaving it with just 7.29% of the NHS budget by 2017/18.

In response to the funding crisis, the RCGP and the National Association for Patient Participation (N.A.P.P.) have launched a campaign called Put patients first: Back general practice which is calling on the four governments of the UK to ensure that general practice is given 11% of the NHS budget by 2017.

 

ComRes questioned 251 GPs online across the UK, for the survey, between 21-24 March. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

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