Warrington GPs say their jobs are 'unpleasant and unrewarding' as Red Whale report finds workloads are at a 'critical point'

GP education provider Red Whale surveyed more than 1,000 GPs across the country, including nine practising in the town, as part of a report into doctor’s workloads that was released last week.

The report revealed that ‘unmanageable’ workloads are ‘compromising the quality and consistency of care’ and forcing many GPs out of the profession.

One Warrington GP, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “General practice is dying in the way I have known it through my 30-year working career.

“I can only assume the dismantling of primary care is the government’s end game as you could not make the profession more difficult, unpleasant and unrewarding if you sat down and tried.”

Findings by Red Whale also suggested that heavy workloads could prevent the NHS from meeting targets to recruit and train 5,000 new GPs over the next five years.

Another GP practising in the town said: “I don’t think the public understand how long we train for or how much we put into keeping up to date.

“When one compares any doctor’s remuneration to someone in the industry – taking into account the responsibility, lack of resources and times – doctors are extremely undervalued and hence recruitment is an issue.”

A third Warrington GP added: “General practice is getting harder and young doctors are not interested in committing to it.”

NHS Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group said that pressures on GPs were ‘unprecedented’ but that it was doing ‘all it could’ for doctors in the town.

Dr Dan Bunstone, GP and chairman of the CCG, said: “The pressures GPs are facing are unprecedented – it is a national issue that NHS England has recognised and set out to address through the general practice forward view.

“For Warrington, we are committed to doing all we can to support out GPs.

“This funding has enabled the commissioning of extended access to GP practice appointments, meaning that patients can be offered appointments during evenings and weekends at Bath Street Health and Wellbeing Centre, reducing pressure on practices.”

Measures taken by the CCG include providing out-of-hours GP services, encouraging practices to work together and funding pharmacists to work in all surgeries.

Dr Bunstone added: “This helps GPs manage the growing demands on their time.

“Our GPs in Warrington are dedicated to providing high quality care to their patients and work long hours to do so.

“To support our GPs with the daily demands they face, the CCG ensures that they have access to the national NHS GP health service to help them both physically and mentally manage the pressures and give them access to any assistance they may need.

“I encourage members of the public to work with us to help reduce the pressures on services by always examining their options and choose the most suitable route for the treatment of everyday illnesses.

“These measures are a few solutions to work towards tackling the national issue of GP pressures and over the coming years we will continue to support local and national initiatives and work closely with NHS England to continue to address this problem.”