Hey #MedMastodon & #TeamGP - let's say you could wave a magic wand and make #NHS general practice better.

What would be on your wish list?

🩺 more GPVTS training places?

☑️ the end of QOF?

🏘️ a better resourced social care system?

Thoughts please, the more radical the better

Wise words by a GP colleague of mine. (Not a direct colleague, part of the wider #teamGP)
Not sure if he's on here but if you are, Pete Aird, hi!
https://peteaird.org/2023/01/22/the-abolition-of-general-practice-2/

RT @DrJSherrington@twitter.com

Gang, I'm raging. 🤬

Hypothermic patient in their own home
Secondary to fuel bill of £4000 👍

It shouldn't be the GPs job to prescribe basic human rights

#TeamGP #MedTwitter

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/DrJSherrington/status/1615324384515825664

RT @krishnakolidoc@twitter.com

Data should speak louder than #media rhetoric
#TeamGP are cracking on with the appointments!

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/krishnakolidoc/status/1612938667688955905

Some more positive news to start the week. Our paper on the impact of increased remote consultations on medical student enthusiasm for GP careers was published over the weekend!

#MedTwitter #MedStudentTwitter #TeamGP #MondayMotivation #MondayMorning

https://journals.stfm.org/familymedicine/2023/january/laake-2022-0047/

RT @LtotheJtotheP@twitter.com

Just a quick reminder - GPs ARE SEEING PATIENTS, THE REASON YOU CANT SEE ONE AS QUICKLY AS YOU LIKE IS THERE ARENT ENOUGH OF US TO MEET THE OVERWHELMING DEMAND EVEN THOUGH WE ARE WORKING ABOVE RECOMMENDED LIMITS OF DAILY PATIENT CONTACTS. Thanks for listening. #teamgp #MedTwitter

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/LtotheJtotheP/status/1610380846749585409

👋 hi!

I'm a freelance writer covering #NHS and #mentalhealth for #Refinery29UK, #theipaper and #GlamourUK, amongst others.

I also work part-time for the #NASGP and often work with #UKGPs #teamGP

🪴 Recent work: https://www.elliebroughton.net/

#introduction

Lifeboat officially launched~

#medtwitter
#medtwitteruk
#teamgp
#nhs
#NHSScotland
#musicaltheater
#musicaltheatre
#labourparty

I've started a new group @CreativeHealth for anyone interested in the intersection of #art #creativity #culture #health #wellbeing #SocialPrescribing #TeamGP #NHS #NarrativeMedicine #MedicalHumanities including the current Creative Health review led by the National Centre for Creative Health

RT @allanson_j@twitter.com

As a GP, I am disappointed to hear Labour shadow health secretary plans to fight "hostile health unions." Makes me question whether Labour truly understands the challenges and stress that healthcare workers face. As a result, not sure that I want to vote Labour. #TeamGP

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/allanson_j/status/1601951685697576960

If you know anyone who's unwell & on their own at #Christmas tell them about the online #singing group @HeraPartnership 23rd & 25th December
#TeamGP #SocialPrescribing #BringTheJoy #Loneliness
contact@robinhoodhealth.org

This excellent prize-winning short video from researchers at Surrey Heartlands is about the real-life experiences of people with a learning disability - particularly when it comes to #PrimaryCare and Annual Health Checks.

As #NHS systems get more stretched, the most vulnerable get squeezed out and any little thing we can do to reduce widening inequalities is one way to push back.

#TeamGP

https://youtu.be/k5hdO7WenaE

Worries around strep A infection in kids has added even more pressure than normal to GPs. (If the current situation can be called normal.)

Things are tough anyway in #PrimaryCare and am hearing a lot of stories of practices dealing with incredible numbers - it’s eye-wateringly hard.

Any small gestures/thanks to them and the teams will help keep them going. And if it is hard to get access - and that is upsetting - take it out on the policymakers who are running down the #NHS

#TeamGP #GTTO

Going with a cheeky #FollowFriday - will be early years birdsite since I did that but it just feels appropriate here.

😎 @sunil has just joined Mastodon and we need wonderful people like him here.

😎 @nadakhan is also new here, an Associate Editor at the #BJGP, writes wonderful articles at BJGP Life and is a podcasting natural 😀

😎 @patriciaelliott who is just a social media force for good.

😎 @Drgandalf for all things GP/digital

#TeamGP #PrimaryCare @generalpractice

I just got the weekly missive from the RCGP - and new chair Prof Kamilla Hawthorne took over last weekend. A small snippet of the message attached.

I just want to comment again on the utterly shameless blame game the Govt is embarking on with GPs - publishing GP practice data on appts is a cynical ploy that will heighten abuse of #NHS staff.

It's the Tories to blame. Not over-worked, over-stretched GPs and primary care staff.

#GTTO #TeamGP #PrimaryCare #GeneralPractice @generalpractice

I wrote an article for the #BJGP community - please do share with anyone who might be Mastodon-curious.

Boosts are, of course, nice 😀. and important. But, clearly, will only reach people who are already here. So, maybe send to a WhatsApp/Signal group? Or email someone? If you can share with one other person outside it could really help grow the #TeamGP #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare community here.

#MedMastodon

https://bjgplife.com/mastodon-for-gps-embrace-the-features-and-the-future/

And, one more story/article from last week that brings all this together. The Times published an article (paywalled) on charging for #NHS #GP appointments and how it works in Ireland.

The famous #Chomsky quote comes to mind: "That’s the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.”

The comments are a horror.

#TeamGP #GeneralPractice #PrimaryCare

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nhs-charge-fee-reform-patients-pay-gp-health-service-uk-zknv7l0ff

The obsession with access manifests itself in many ways.

Another story from last week is the roll out of league tables for appointments.

It's straight out of the cheap and nasty policy drawer and an examplar from a Govt that has completely run out of ideas. It is one of the most simplistic, invidious, counter-productive proposals in many years - a blame-shifting exercise of the grossest hypocrisy.

#TeamGP #PrimaryCare #NHS

https://news.sky.com/story/gp-surgeries-could-be-named-and-shamed-as-appointment-league-tables-revealed-for-first-time-12754260

Politicians, of all stripes, have been going on about access - and, of course, it is deeply distressing to patients if they can't get to their GP. Here's the news: it's distressing to everyone in GP as well.

That's because it is a symptom of a deep-rooted problem - and #NHS services are collapsing. Simply promising that GPs will be compelled to see patients "within x time" is spectacularly missing the point.

@generalpractice #TeamGP #PrimaryCare

This Observer article is well worth a bit of time. It's the kind of journalism that is relatively rare these days but it's an accurate portrayal.

Sections of the media have been hammering GPs for years - but, more than anything, almost every GP just want to be able to spend time with the patients who need their help. It ain't that complex.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/27/stress-exhaustion-1000-patients-a-day-english-gp-nhs-collapse

@generalpractice #TeamGP #PrimaryCare #GeneralPractice