Emeritus Prof Christopher MayOct 21, 2024

Wes Streeting is launching a 'conversation' with NHS staff on how to tackle the continuing crisis & what needs to be done to shift the NHS to a more sustainable footing, without constant fire-fighting... all well & good.

But the key Q., like so many consultation exercises you & I have been part of, is will he actually listen or just cherry pick the 'answers' to fit he plan for increased privatisation that many have detected in his attitudes (and backers)?

#NHS #health
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/21/nhs-saved-my-life-rescue-health-service-wes-streeting

I love the NHS: it saved my life, but the operation to rescue it must be led by the people and its staff

Our health service is in crisis and government can’t tackle that alone, says Wes Streeting, secretary of state for health and social care

The Guardian
Show threadNatashaOct 21, 2024
@ChrisMayLA6 Simple, fund community services from community nursing, social care, primary care, work on prevention via good public health including reducing poverty, update necessary infrastructure ie buildings, IT, equipment, and make it fit for purpose. It’s going to take a lot of money to get it right, which they don’t seem to want to give. The quickest fix? Sort out social care. Fund primary care to have more GPs.
Show threadMike 🇬🇧 🇪🇺

@nusher @ChrisMayLA6 More GPs is a great ambition, but how long does it take to recruit & train a GP? (Rhetorical - I don't know but I'd guess at least 6 years).
More specialist nurses in GP practices? Certainly, but again nurse training is slow and recruitment isn't easy - retention is worse.
Other professions (therapists, scientists, pharmacists etc) have similar career & training constraints as the nursing profession.

Putting more doctors, nurses & other professionals in primary care is essential but how much pilfering of staff from other (acute) services can be safely managed before those services start failing.

It /can/ be done, you are right, but it won't be quick, easy or cheap - it's a case of rebuilding the staff base, having a robust decades long plan, and channelling billions of ££ carefully into the right corners.

Oct 21, 2024 at 11:56amWeb
Show threadNatashaOct 21, 2024
@MikeFromLFE @ChrisMayLA6 Ironically, more GPs have been trained in England, but are now facing a lack of jobs as the funding has been squeezed to pay for them. And the worse it gets, the more we are training GPs who then either change path or emigrate. Nurses, pharmacists, physios, etc. on the other hand are in very high demand and short supply and just get moved around rather than anyone new. Proper workforce planning would help.
Show threadMarjorieROct 21, 2024

@nusher @MikeFromLFE @ChrisMayLA6

"Some GPs struggling to find work, says union" BBC 21-Jun-24
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx77zg1d4q7o

Some GPs struggling to find work, says union

Locum doctors in England have told the British Medical Association shifts are hard to find at practices.

Show threadEpistatacadamOct 21, 2024
@nusher @MikeFromLFE @ChrisMayLA6 one of the tenets of the market in healthcare that England still has not abandoned, though everywhere else has, is that the market more efficiently organised the production and distribution of healthcare personnel than a planned system based on need.
We used to have mechanisms in the NHS to distribute GPs other contractors and hospital services according to population need. Removed in 1991, results as forecast then. But no recognition the market is the problem!
Show threadCharlie StrossOct 21, 2024
@MikeFromLFE @nusher @ChrisMayLA6 IIRC it takes a decade from university entry to having a newly qualified GP or junior hospital consultant. Other professions aren't much faster: nursing is a degree-level profession (4 years plus training on top), pharmacists take a 4 year degree plus a year of foundation training, and so on. Lab skills, again, are graduate entry plus training on top. So staff planning needs at least a decade of lead time to turn things around.
Show threadMontanareddogOct 21, 2024

@MikeFromLFE @nusher @ChrisMayLA6

"...how long does it take to recruit & train a GP?" Standard undergraduate medical training is 5 years; new medical graduates then do 2 foundation years in a clinical setting before they can be considered for specialty training; GP specialty training is 3 years. Thus, a total of10 years is the minimum for a qualified GP.

Show threadEpistatacadamOct 21, 2024
@MikeFromLFE @nusher @ChrisMayLA6 5 /6 years undergraduate plus another 5/6 years post graduate training. So 10 to 12 years after med school entry. But they reach full productivity after about 3 years in the job. And then maintain that for about 10 to 15 years before they need mental refreshing. Hence the high fall out at a letter stage.