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TV documentary to look ‘behind closed doors’ of GP practice

TV viewers will get a peek ‘behind closed doors’ of a GP practice in a new series starting on Tuesday evening, Channel 5 has promised.

The documentary will follow GPs and patients at St John’s Medical Centre in Lewisham, southeast London, including patient consultations as well as a look at what GPs get up when they are not seeing patients.

According to producers, the show will depict the pressures and constraints within which GPs have to treat patients – including consultations limited to just 10 minutes and dealing with ‘approximately 90% of the NHS workload’ while receiving ‘only around 10% of the health service’s total budget’.

The first episode of the series ‘GPs: Behind Closed Doors’, set to air on Channel 5 at 9pm on Tuesday 29 April, will follow experienced GPs Dr Jean Parker and Dr Chrisanthan Ferdinand (also knows as ‘Dr Ferdy’) in their daily work.

Patients include Spencer, a recovering addict who comes in with broken ribs, older gentleman James who is in for a check-up and Amanda, who says she cannot work because she keeps falling ill. Other complaints include a refusal to undergo a colostomy, depression and suicidal thoughts and a badly infected foot wound.

Producers said: ‘Touching, honest and hilarious, the series takes a no-holds-barred look at the stresses, strains and joys of working in – and using – the health service in modern Britain.’