The grassroots general practice campaign group GP Survival will soon be launching elections for a new council after doubling the number of active members in its first year.
The group launched officially in July last year, and has focussed on using social media to engage with their 5,800 GPs and represent their views at national policy level.
At its launch, the group’s media lead Dr Zoe Norris said it had been ‘born out of frustration at the failure of the current bodies that purport to represent GPs’.
And in today’s statement says their first active year has seen their members – including GPC sessional GP lead Dr Norris – and those of other grassroots groups take up positions on the BMA’s GP council.
GP Survival’s interim chair Dr Thomas Jones said they would continue to work with groups like the GPC and RCGP and welcomed the BMA, in particular, responsiveness to work with them to reach out to grassroots GPs.
He adds: ‘The support of our members has meant we have been able to get GPs voices heard where previously they weren’t. Suddenly we realise the scale of the challenge that exists within the profession, as well as outside it.
‘We will work with the GPC, BMA and RCGP but won’t stop speaking out. This is about the survival of everyday working GPs, and that remains in acute danger.’
