Notes from a Modern GP
Dr Patrick Wynn
The NHS staffing crisis is not insurmountable, says Dr Patrick Wynn of Health Care First
W
e seem to have a world in in near apocalypse right now as we lurch from crisis to crisis. Only a year or two ago we had Parliament in turmoil over Brexit which paled into insignificance when the Global Pandemic came along. And just as we seem to be getting over COVID, there is a war in Europe. All of this puts our own problems into perspective, but it has impacted on our day-to-day clinical service in many ways. We now find ourselves with a major staffing crisis throughout the NHS. This is not just a lack of doctors which we always seem to focus on, but cuts through all ranks and roles. We don’t have enough staff available to pick the phone up when patients ring. This means long waiting times and we all know how frustrating it is sitting on hold, especially when you are unwell and have urgent needs. Consequently, when callers do get through they are understandably annoyed and some will vent this on the receptionist they speak to, all of which is understandable but only makes the job of call handling harder and more stressful. This means we have yet more difficulty recruiting and retaining staff and, when combined with record low rates of unemployment, the problem gets worse. So many of our staff join the service because they genuinely want to help and do good, but who could blame someone for leaving if they are faced with an
earful of angry callers day after day when they could stack shelves in the local supermarket for the same money? We rely heavily on specialist nurses who are highly trained to offer expert knowledge on specific disease areas and deal with all manner of urgent medical issues. These nurses are highly experienced and time-served before they take on extra responsibilities, but now we find the next generation are loath to engage with the extra training because they find it too academic and over-onerous. They simply stay at the same grade and do not attempt to progress their careers, and without the next generation of specialist nurses, we are facing a crisis of provision. We have introduced many new roles such as clinical pharmacists who deal with medication enquiries and can prescribe when required, and we are using specialist staff without the need to go through a GP or nurse. For example, you can now speak directly to an
“Not only do we need to address staff numbers and training, but we also need to innovate and change working practice”
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