'Indemnity fees are killing our profession' - sign this letter to Jeremy Hunt

Dear Jeremy Hunt,

I might sound like a broken record to you, but you will have to bear with me and listen.

Indemnity fee hikes are killing my profession and I can’t stand in the corner and let it happen. We are struggling to pay the sky-rocketing indemnity fees, and last year’s sticking plaster of indemnity reimbursement is nowhere near what is needed.

In addition, it was paid directly to practices and sessional GPs struggled to gain any benefit from it.

As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, changes to the ‘discount rate’ are set to substantially increase compensation payouts, thereby creating an intolerable burden of a potential further increase in subscription costs.

We have no control over the harsh medicolegal climate leading to an exponential rise in claims, but seem to be personally responsible for it, in contrast to our secondary care colleagues who are covered by trusts.

We are as much part of the NHS as our colleagues in hospitals are, so why the disparity in the way we are treated? The way clinical negligence compensation awards are calculated needs root-and-branch reform, but GPs can’t wait for this to happen. General practice is imploding and if something is not done straight away we will become a thing of the past.

So I implore that the following steps are taken straight away to save general practice as time is running out: first, the Government should fully reimburse the cost of GP indemnity regardless of their place or mode of work, be it in practice, out of hours or any of the new ways of working; second, the reimbursement should go directly to all GPs rather than the practices.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Preeti Shukla

England representative, GP Survival