Time to abolish general practice

Our GP surgery is proving increasingly incompetent and incapable of providing even basic services. I came out of Addenbrookes Hospital ten days ago, having been admitted with acute kidney failure (AKF). The treatment there was excellent, despite crowded wards and huge time pressures on the staff. AKF is monitored by measuring the blood levels of two breakdown products excreted by the kidneys: urea and creatinine. Both had been high on admission, but fell with treatment, and the consultant oncologist requested the GP to arrange follow-up blood tests after my discharge. 

It took three visits, a phone call, and an email of complaint from Ann before they would issue the blood form, and I finally I had to take a copy of my discharge letter in because the surgery couldn't find it. Then one of the GPs phoned in response to Ann's email to say the form would be ready to collect yesterday morning. Needless to say he was abrupt and annoyed, not bothering to even ask how I was since coming out of hospital. Ann went into the surgery, but the staff refused to give her the form, insisting I had to go for it in person. She was furious, and wrote about the experience on the Clare Facebook page. Of course, the GP surgery themselves don't do blood tests anymore, so I had to go to West Suffolk or Sudbury. Neither is available as a drop-in service anymore, and there was a waiting time of one week at Bury and ten days at Sudbury. In the end, I went to the drive-through centre at Cambridge, and they agreed to do the test there as it was for Addenbrookes.

I am writing this blog as Ann thought her Facebook post might attract a few replies from people to say they had had good experiences at the surgery. In fact, there was a torrent of responses, all negative, some heart-breaking, saying how poor was the service they had received. I was in hospital and GP practice for over twenty-five years, including time spent as a locum at the Clare practice when we first moved to Suffolk. We used to pride ourselves in being a family service, knowing the people of Clare, and giving a personal service with rapid appointments, and home visiting. Now, all that has gone by the board. Covid may have precipitated the end of traditional general practice, but there is no sign that it will ever return. 

I earnestly believe that general practice in this country is now dead. It should be completely scrapped, and a new salaried drop-in service started to replace it, supplementing the excellent work of A&E departments, and taking much of the pressure off them. All patient records are now available throughout the NHS, so anyone with an NHS registration number should be free to go to whichever drop-in centre they wish. These centres would be adjacent to pharmacies and a nursing station for blood tests and general procedures currently done through GP services. The whole thing should be centrally organised, streamlined and aimed at the convenience of patients rather than the profit of GPs. It is time for a fundamental overhaul of primary care in this country, and this must start with the abolition of GP surgeries which refuse to see patients or apply basic common sense.