Locum Gazette: The GP 4-hour work week – living the dream!

In my experience, locum sessions are busy and fully booked, however, there is a huge disparity in the GP to patient ratio in different parts of the country. The highest being in Essex with one surgery reportedly having 15000 patients/GP compared to surgery in London with only 424 patients/GP.

I would love to be a fly on the wall and see the difference in the intensity of work between working at Hastings Old surgery Essex which has 15,500 patients for every full-time GP compared to Sampford Peverell Surgery which has only 208 patients per FTGP* Based on NHS digital information, whilst these figures are not completely 100%.

The figures may not be 100% accurate but it is clear that the grind in some is much more than in others.

Talking to GP managers they seem to be very keen to get locums to book Face to face appointments, the statistics show that most appointments are F2F but not pre covid levels.

With unprecedented strain and pressure on General practice and on average one GP leaving the profession every day, terms like burnout and breakdown seem to be rampant on social media as some GPs are at breaking point, perhaps it’s time for a change of direction.

In this video I ask the question, is it possible for a GP to work just 4 hours a week?

The locum market is on fire, locums are in huge demand as the workforce dwindles and people need that holiday cover or just plug the gaps in the rota, however, this is a double edges sword, though it’s great to be in demand, the workload for locums is increasing. 

The demands on the surgeries have shot up and this is dissipated amongst surgery staff and when you are only one of a few or in some cases the only GP on the shop floor then this will invariably add to the workload. 

Locums and sessional GPs have applied to become their own branch of practice in the BMA.

For many years we were perhaps happy to live in the shadows and operate as solo practitioners, however, the covid pandemic exposed us to the harsh reality that the ship is sinking then there are few life rafts.

Reference: pulsetoday.co.uk

Plans announced by NHS England in 2000 to set up flexible GP work pools were stunted by the pandemic. However, to succeed the onus needs to be on creating a system that enables locums to have a good work-life balance, helping them to pick up work easily that suits them, rather than pigeon holing them into working in fixed and regimented conditions, after all the primary drive that attracts locums is to behave freedom and flexibility.

The Bank of England has raised interest rates to 1.25% in July 2022 compared to 0.25% in Dec 2021. Still miles away from the all time high of 17% in 1979. Let’s hope that it levels out!

Reassuringly Breast pain is not a risk factor for breast cancer and should not be referred to break clinic in the absence of other symptoms or signs.

Reference: bjgp.org

GMC concedes but does not go far enough.

For the first time, they have conceded that they got it wrong. After much outcry and annoyance from GPs the GMC could not ignore the insurmountable anger at the decision to suspend Dr Arora.

The GMC has said in a statement that in the case of Dr Arora that they had applied the tribunal had applied the dishonesty test incorrectly. This does not sound much like an apology!

I think as a minimum the GMC needs to revisit their own guidance on the duty of candour and offer an apology when things go wrong! Also, look into reimbursing Dr Arora for the financial loss.

“Four in five GP partners say their practice has been unable to recruit a locum doctor when they needed one within the past six months – heaping extra pressure on other staff”

a GP online poll shows

We would like to hear from you, on what factors do you think are causing this locum drought?

We are very interested in GPs that have a side hustle, covid has taught us not to put all of our eggs in one basket and it’s so great to see innovators utilising skills and technology to create new ideas.

Today we focus on 2 upcoming GPs Dr Amine Boughellam and Dr Ben Coyle founders of SimplyCPD which is a CPD finder and booking platform that is quite useful in sourcing CPD training. I asked Ben Coyle, its co-founder, to talk to us about the platform and his entrepreneurial journey.

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Remote working exploding jump on the gravy train and lock in the £90/hr rate exclusive to Elocum24

Find out more about it by emailing us at jobs@elocum24.com

Hope you are ok, check out this chart and see if you are ok

One thing we have learnt is that burnout is insidious, I have seen firsthand how doctors can go from being ok to literally being borderline sectioned, if you need time out make sure you take it!

Burnout Tip

I have recently discovered the benefits of taking a bath, I usually take a shower in the morning as I am flying out of the house, but occasionally its nice to add some bath salts, pop on some headphones and float away!