- Jennifer Richardson
- The BMJ
Working life in the NHS is worse than it has been for more than 20 years, doctors in Wales told The BMJ, and they “can’t see an end in sight.”
GPs in both the north and south of the country said they had deferred much or even all of their routine work to cope with urgent consultations. Some practices were seeing 100 or more patients a day above their usual workload.
“We’re having to prioritise urgent things, so people aren’t able to get stuff sorted out that may not be life threatening but is deeply impacting their life” said Georgie Budd, a trainee GP in Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and co-chair of the BMA Welsh Junior Doctors Committee. “It’s heartbreaking to see and to feel like you can’t help.”
GPs were increasingly having to triage patients remotely and “justify” seeing them, they said.
Geraint Preest, a GP partner in Pencoed Medical Centre near Bridgend, said, “When there is an overwhelming workload your threshold for seeing patients goes up. Working with uncertainty is more difficult than it ever has been in the past.”
Even deferring work doesn’t relieve the pressure. “Every morning for the past few months I’m full up with appointments and we’re trying to fit in patients …