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Will NHS England’s workforce plan work?

The future GP

Chantal Cox - online

The 10-point plan is a good idea in theory, but it will take much more than this influx of money. It is good to put the money in now, but you need to keep putting it in and reviewing the situation.

You need to ask the GPs on the shop floor what would keep them in the job. You would assume that future GPs would want the same thing.

 As for working in a deprived area, I get the impression patients in such areas demand more of us as clinicians.

 I can see the appeal of the financial incentives, but a broader approach would be more advantageous in the long-term. A decision to work in an under-doctored area would be influenced by lots of factors.

Chantal Cox-George is a fourth year medical student at the University of Bristol.

 

The overseas GP

Gaurav TEwary

This is definitely not enough. This is simply saying ‘we’ll give you some more money’. That is not why I left. I probably earn less here.

I would like the things I didn’t like before I left to change. Removing political interference would be the first thing that could tempt me back.

They’ll probably send you to under- doctored areas as a single-handed GP, replacing retiring GPs. We know those are the worst-performing practices. They’ll give you a bit of money for a couple of years, but then what?

I love the NHS. But I have seen a system here in Australia that really works. If you allow GPs to work as clinicians, they can deliver a lot more. I’ve seen that here.

Dr Gaurav Tewary is a GP in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. He was previously a GP partner in Coventry.

 

The retiring GP

Hadrian Moss Duo 330x330

My retirement plans are set in reinforced concrete that would take a good dose of Semtex to break apart. 

The 10-point plan has many positive aspects and making general practice more appealing to younger doctors can’t be a bad thing.

However, every GP of my generation has lived through these ideas before, and its saddening how often the same ideas are repeated.

I actually don’t want more money.  What I really want is a job that allows me to do what I do best, to treat people and not targets and to give me time and resources to do it properly when I’m not knackered by the long hours and incessant demand for more.

My concrete plans are still intact.

Dr Hadrian Moss is a GP in Kettering, Northamptonshire.