gp

The end of free GP access in Northern Ireland is in sight

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A couple of years back, I was chatting to a friend of a friend who is a GP. Like, I suspect, most of us, I had (and still have) a fairly limited understanding of the nuts and bolts of how healthcare is actually provided in Northern Ireland, and he spent a bit of time explaining it to me. I was quite surprised to discover, for example, that GP surgeries are actually private businesses. They’re almost exclusively organised as partnerships, a …

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Beyond a Spin of the Wheel – GPs and mental health care

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The crisis facing GP services in Northern Ireland has been well documented, including in previous posts on Slugger O’Toole.  Increasing patient lists, ‘red tape’, underfunding, an ageing workforce and the compounding of health issues in deprived communities due to austerity policies, are only some of the problems faced by the service. The British Medical Association has mooted the unwelcome spectre of GPs walking away from the NHS, while the Royal College of GPs NI, in an open letter, has highlighted …

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Dr George O’Neill on the slow death of general practice…

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The 2004 GP contract was the result of significant problems in English inner cities with recruitment and retention of GPs. The continuity of care the bedrock of general practice was lost when GPs no longer were required with the implementation of the new contract to provide out of hours medical services. As a consequence patient care is now the responsibility of the Trusts for the majority of the time.  The loss of continuity of care means the GP is no …

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Dominoes, pass the parcel and the impeding collapse of the Northern Ireland GP service….

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For years GPs have been warming the government that the service is on the verge of collapse. But as usual in Northern Ireland we govern by inertia or doing bugger all as the man in the street might call it. I
But now it begins. We get to witness the collapse of the GP service in real time. The Portadown case gives us the template of how it will happen.