Cardiff GP felt she had to work through cancer scare
"It puts the pressure on that I shouldn't be getting sick," Dr Jones said.The 37-year-old had nipped away from her practice to get an issue checked out and her doctor found a potentially cancerous lump in her abdomen."My GP said that I should be going straight to the hospital," she recalled."But I couldn't because I was the only doctor here, I couldn't shut the surgery."It was very stressful that afternoon trying to just keep going. I was in pain but there wasn't really any other option."Dr Jones has said there wasn't enough staff to cover her that day because of a funding formula for GP surgeries in Wales and England that some say is no longer fit for purpose.When more doctors were in the following day, Dr Jones was able to attend the hospital appointment when the lump was found not to be cancerous.She has also felt awful being off to attend emergency hospital appointments and to have major operations because it put a strain on her surgery in Cardiff."I hear quite a lot you don't think about doctors getting sick, but I try to remind my patients that we're all human," added Dr Jones, a GP for eight years.
Whitchurch Road Surgery in the Heath area of the city currently has about 80 appointments a day for the approximate 8,000 patients on their list and have an estimated four-week wait for routine appointments. The surgery has said some staff are doing overtime every day to see as many patients as quickly as possible."You have patient after patient coming in and the first five minutes is spent apologising for the fact they can't get an appointment," said Dr Rebecca Towner.The 44-year-old has said that she could see 30 patients in a morning, which is beyond the safe daily limit of 25 suggested by the British Medical Association (BMA). The BMA has said some GPs are seeing as many as 40 patients in a day due to an increased workload as some surgeries claim they can't afford more doctors. "Every single day you worry you're going to make a mistake," added Dr Towner."There's more risk with seeing patient after patient and less time to think. We're firefighting and it's exhausting."She has admitted the situation can be "demoralising" and doctors she knows have considered quitting multiple times. "I can't imagine doing anything else other than being a GP, but it's hard to see how we can carry on as it is at the moment," added Dr Towner.Bosses at Whitchurch Road Surgery have put a cap on extra work "when possible" and claim a lack of funding because of the way the NHS pays GP surgeries means they have been unable to pay the same wages as other practices.They say that means they're unable to hire new staff which has added to their workload and subsequently increased appointment wait time for patients.
The surgery's own practice manager said he continued to work during his treatment for stage three oesophageal cancer in an attempt to lessen the impact on patients."I think things will get worse before they get better," said Gareth Lucocq, 47."We have lots of doctors qualifying in autumn and unfortunately there are no jobs for them because practices can't afford their wages."
GPs in Wales and England are mainly paid using a formula introduced in 2004, based on factors like how old and ill their patients are likely to be. Campaigners have said data the Carr-Hill Formula uses is more than 25 years old and GP practices in towns and cities tend to lose out.Doctors complain the formula is not based on current data so when the NHS allocates cash, it doesn't take into account whether the GP surgery serves a particularly sick or deprived population.BBC Wales research shows that if Whitchurch Road Surgery was paid per patient, rather than using the Carr-Hill formula, it would receive an extra quarter of a million pounds a year.Based on this measurement, the biggest shortfall faced by any GP surgery in Wales would be just under £445,000."There is systematically worse access to general practice in poorer parts of the country," said Dr Becks Fisher of the Nuffield Trust, who did a study on GP funding formula in England."People who live in poorer parts of the country consistently have lower satisfaction with GP services and report more difficulty in accessing them."GP practices in the Cardiff and Vale health board are the worst affected by the formula in Wales and almost half of Welsh surgeries claim they're allocated less cash than they say they need."If you're hundreds of thousands of pounds worse off, it doesn't matter how hard you work," said Dr Matthew Jones, who works at another surgery in Heath.
"The formula just doesn't work. It doesn't accurately represent what your GP workload is and the figures and data they're using are from 1998 to 2001."The General Practitioners Committee, the body that represents UK GPs, believes there is a need to review the formula in Wales."General practice is facing a crisis in Wales," said Dr Gareth Oelmann, the BMA's Welsh committee chair.The Royal College of General Practitioners has welcomed the "long overdue" UK government review into how funds are dished out to GP surgeries."A patient's postcode and where they live should not determine the level of NHS care they receive," it said in a statement."It can't be right that people in deprived communities – who often have more complex health needs and would likely benefit from health interventions most - are less likely to receive it, because their GPs' time is spread even more thinly."In Wales, the Senedd's Health and Social Care Committee is holding an inquiry into the future of GPs including its funding model and current financial pressures."Various elements of the GP contract, including funding formulas, will be considered as part of annual contract negotiations between Welsh government, NHS Wales and the General Practitioner's Committee," the Welsh government said in a statement.
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The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Fewer resident doctors thought to have gone on strike than in last year's stoppage
Thousands fewer resident doctors are thought to have joined picket lines on Friday during the first day of a five-day strike compared with last year's mass turnout. Although NHS England will only publish data on turnout and cancellations next week, hospital leaders are understood to have observed fewer resident doctors (previously known as junior doctors) on strike and less disruption to services than during the last round of industrial action, which ran from March 2023 until July 2024. While ministers and officials will not receive any statistics until after the five-day stoppage ends on Wednesday, there is a hope within government that the impact might be mitigated, in part by a lower strike turnout. The British Medical Association (BMA) is refusing to comment on how many of its members have joined the stoppage until it is over. The strike will continue until 7am on Wednesday. The public have been urged to keep coming forward for NHS care during this period, and NHS England has urged hospital chief executives to keep routine operations and appointments and only reschedule if there is a risk to patient safety. The NHS chief executive, Jim Mackey, told broadcasters on Friday that the NHS was taking a new approach after learning from previous strikes that 'harm to patients and disruption to patients was much broader than the original definitions'. 'Colleagues in the service have tried to keep as much going as humanly possible as well, and the early signs are that that's been achieved so far, but it is early doors,' he said. 'The thing that colleagues won't compromise is safety in the actual delivery. But it does look like people have really heard that. They're really pulling together to maximise the range of services possible.' Mackey noted that further strikes were 'possible' given the BMA has a six-month mandate. Speaking shortly after the start of the strike on Friday morning at the NHS England headquarters in London, where officials are monitoring its impact, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, praised NHS staff who, he said, were trying to limit its effects. This included, he said, 'many resident doctors who have ignored their union and are turning up for work'. Streeting warned, however, that patients would feel the impact, saying: 'We know that there have been operations, appointments and procedures already cancelled, and we know that there will be real challenges over the next five days.' Calling the BMA's decision to hold the strike a 'reckless and unnecessary action', he added: 'We won't let the BMA hold this country to ransom.' The BMA has agreed to requests for doctors to come off picket lines and work in hospitals experiencing the most pressure. One doctor was told to return to work at Nottingham City hospital's neonatal intensive care unit over the weekend, and a request from Lewisham hospital in south London for two anaesthetists to work on Saturday was also accepted. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion A smaller strike turnout has been expected because the BMA achieved a lesser mandate in the strike ballot than in 2023. Of 48,000 members, 55% voted, of whom 90% supported industrial action – representing less than half of members – compared with a turnout of 71.25% in 2023's expanded electorate, of whom 43,440 (98.37%) voted to go on strike. During the last round of 12 strikes in 2023 and 2024, nearly 1.5m appointments were rescheduled. In the final industrial action from 7am on Thursday 27 June to 7am on Tuesday 2 July, 23,001 staff were absent from work at the peak of the action. The BMA is asking for a rise of 29% over the next few years in order to achieve what it considers to be full pay restoration to pre-2008 levels, after the 2023 industrial action resulted in a pay bump of 22% to cover 2023-24 and 2024-25. At present, ministers have offered a 5.4% pay rise for 2025-26. The BMA council chair, Dr Tom Dolphin, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a 'clear, guaranteed pathway' to pay restoration would be required for resident doctors to return to work He said: 'So you've got last year's pay offer which did indeed move us towards [pay restoration], but Wes Streeting himself said that pay restoration is a journey, not an event, implying that there would be further pay restoration to come, and we were expecting our pay to be restored in full – that's our campaign's goal. We got partway there, but then that came to a halt this year.' Keir Starmer made a last-minute appeal to resident doctors, saying the strikes would 'cause real damage'. 'Most people do not support these strikes. They know they will cause real damage … These strikes threaten to turn back the clock on progress we have made in rebuilding the NHS over the last year, choking off the recovery,' the prime minister said.
The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Graham Thorpe's care had 'failings' in last months of his life, says coroner
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Transgender medic row could be viewed as hate crime, consultant tells tribunal
A consultant previously overheard a nurse saying she 'did not believe it was possible to change sex' and felt that a dispute with a transgender doctor 'could be considered to be a hate crime', an employment tribunal has heard. Nurse Sandie Peggie was suspended after she complained about having to share a changing-room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Christmas Eve 2023. She was placed on special leave after Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment, and cited concerns about 'patient care'. Ms Peggie has lodged a claim against NHS Fife and Dr Upton, citing the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment; harassment related to a protected belief; indirect discrimination; and victimisation. Dr Maggie Currer, deputy clinical lead at NHS Fife, gave evidence to the tribunal in Dundee on Friday. She said she sent a 'need-to-know' email about the incident to five members of the senior leadership team on January 5, 2024 and suggested 'HR would be the most appropriate people to contact'. She disputed an assertion put to her by Jane Russell KC, representing NHS Fife and Dr Upton, that the health board 'permits staff to use facilities which align with gender identity'. Dr Currer said: 'That hasn't been my experience, I think it is considered on a case-by-case basis.' Her email described the Christmas Eve dispute as 'similar' to an incident of a patient racially abusing a doctor, the tribunal heard. Dr Currer said: 'My understanding is incidents of aggressive or abusive behaviour directed to anyone of a protected characteristic could be considered to be a hate crime.' She told the tribunal she believed she had been informed of the dispute as she had worked at NHS Fife for 15 years. Dr Currer said she was aware of Ms Peggie's gender-critical views as she had overheard her talking about them. She said: 'I was aware. I was aware by report, from directly overhearing. I have also heard Ms Peggie directly articulate those views. 'This is from memory and some time ago, but I have certainly heard Ms Peggie articulate that it was not possible to change your sex.' She said she first met Dr Upton during a teaching session and the junior doctor had made a disclosure about her trans identity. Dr Currer said: 'Dr Upton said to me, was I aware she was trans, she said she just wanted to let me know.' The consultant also said she had contacted equality lead Isla Bumba by telephone in August 2023 about Dr Upton's right to use female changing facilities. The tribunal continues.
