WITH the problems facing GP services in Fermanagh and across the North pre-dating the Covid crisis, a leading doctor has warned the current ‘phone first’ system may be here to stay beyond the pandemic.
In a briefing to the Stormont health committee last week, in which he discussed a local case of an elderly woman who could not contact her GP in Lisnaskea, Dr Alan Stout from the British Medical Association said an ageing population and ever growing demand for GP services had been taking place against a shrinking GP workforce.
This has forced surgeries to become “creative and flexible” in how they deliver care, he said, and had resulted in the current phone first system. Dr Stout said this had been created to deliver care in the safest way possible for staff and patients, and asked the public for understanding.
“GPs and our staff, like all health care staff, are exhausted but continue to be totally committed to serving our patients,” said Dr Stout. “That is why it is particularly difficult to listen to daily criticism of our work.
“We’ve never worked so hard yet still find ourselves in a position of needing to defend ourselves and reiterate the message that GP practices are not and have never been closed.”
Dr Stout said GPs were now “in an even worse position than we were pre-pandemic and it will continue to be very challenging.”
“Demand is higher than it has ever been,” he said. “The workforce is decreasing and the funding that is so badly needed is simply not available.
“The change has been rapid and definitive. It is highly unlikely we will have the desire or the capacity to return to 100 percent face to face model.
“The phone first model and the use of technology allows practices to remain sustainable and accessible, and indeed provides a better service than pre-Covid.”
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere