A private provider has announced GP redundancies at five practices in Plymouth, saying that it wants to ‘reduce the use of clinicians who work remotely’.
Fuller and Forbes Healthcare, which only last month took over the Mayflower Group – including surgeries at Stirling Road, Ernesettle Medical Centre, Mount Gould, Trelawny and Mannamead – has launched a redundancy consultation as it makes changes to its practices, shifting ‘toward a more traditional model of general practice’.
It told Pulse that it is removing the role of GPs that only work remotely, so that all GPs are required to provide face-to-face appointments.
It did not respond to Pulse’s question on how many members of staff will be affected by the redundancy process, but said that it expects this number ‘to be low’ as it plans to redeploy some staff ‘to new roles created within the evolving structure of general practice’.
The Mayflower Group is currently responsible for providing GP services for nearly 40,000 people in the city.
A spokesperson for Fuller and Forbes Healthcare Group said: ‘Our immediate focus areas are to significantly increase the number of face-to-face appointments at our practice sites, and therefore substantially reduce the use of clinicians who work remotely and often manage patient care from home.
‘We are transitioning from a model that prioritised online, telephone, and remote consultations—which required our patients to travel between sites—to a model where each site will provide a full face-to-face service to the local population.
‘Patients will be able to call or visit their local branch to make an appointment. This change is driven by patient feedback, which not only informed, but also strongly supported the planned changes.
‘The shift toward a more traditional model of general practice will necessitate changes in the workforce. We anticipate some redundancies across both non-clinical and clinical staff.’
The provider said it ‘fully’ acknowledged ‘the anxiety and uncertainty’ these changes may cause for both patients and staff.
‘An ongoing consultation process has been established to manage these changes, providing affected staff with the opportunity to express their concerns and explore alternative options,’ it added.
Fuller and Forbes Healthcare, run by GP Dr Mark Fuller and Methven Forbes, runs practices in Leeds, Burnley, Gateshead and Devon.
It was awarded the 10-year APMS contract for the Mayflower surgeries in November last year and took over on April 1, in a move that would mean ‘greater stability for patients and staff’, according to Devon ICB.
At the time the ICB said that staff at the five sites were ‘reassured’ about their employment with new provider and that they had ‘a key role in the future of the service’.
Earlier this year, Pulse exclusively revealed that the new owner of GP at Hand, eMed, announced a large-scale redundancy consultation, said to be affecting ‘mainly GPs’.
The consultation, with put as many as 150 GPs at risk of unemployment, could be in breach of regulations and ‘indirectly discriminatory’, according to the BMA.
In January, a practice in Surrey announced it was making three GPs redundant – pointing to ‘new ways of working’, including virtual appointments and the use of ARRS staff – but it has recently announced it was re-hiring for a salaried GP.
This comes after the BMA’s GP Committee England chair warned that general practice has suddenly gone from a recruitment to an employment crisis, driven by the Government’s squeeze of practice finances
A 2018 Pulse investigation looked at Plymouth as one of UK’s crisis towns, where ‘no practice was more than a couple of episodes away from closing’.
The situation in the city caught national attention with Devon LMC telling GP leaders from across the country that practices in Plymouth were being ‘sucked into a black hole’.
Very sensible move.
It will be difficult for them to integrate back to traditional general practice, as if they haven’t laid hands on a stethoscope or a patient since covid, they are going to feel very lost….. I can’t think of anything more soul-destroying than virtual consultations all day every day.
I don’t think most remote doctors are ‘remote only’. They have found a part time position where they don’t have to spend 60 to 90 mins traveling each way every day to the surgery. Which is expensive and 3 hrs of unpaid time.
Fuller? Eh?
Why do I break out in a rash whenever I see that name?
Greedy GP partners here have no shame and unfortunately their patients will suffer, as will the rest of the profession.
it’s a no brainer that patients prefer f2f and it is far safer and more efficient use of GP time. remote working may be a useful supplement to working from surgery, but not a viable replacement. those still stuck in covid times are wellcome to use the virtual door
But is this really traditional general practice? Or will the f2f appointments be conducted by ARRS roles? And any GPs who are employed will have to be on site so they can supervise everyone else, and increase income for the providers by teaching trainees.
Reducing remote working sounds good in principle, but if you have fewer employees, who are less qualified, is patient care really going to be better?
Agree. Just back from working again in Australia. General Practice as it was here. Hardly any telephone consults, no telephone triage. Sometimes I rang out to give results. Patients could be seen on the day as their NHS funded fee for service system enourages all local GPs to see patients. More seen more pay. Zero seen=zero pay. Reception staff touting for custom! This is an area of doctor shortage. I hate telephone triage and telephone only consults, they hardly save time, and add to risk.
Typically NHS – a system run for the providers rather than for the patients.
Typically NHS – a system run for the providers rather than for the patients.
Where does patient choice feature?
I locum at one of their surgeries. extremely light on doctors, everthing triaged by pharmacists, more remotely by telephone, no duty list-managed by tasks to doctors remotely, main doctors running it do remote consultations.
I think we are being fed some BS here.
To be fair the government have driven this by effectively reducing core funding (as no uplift with inflation), ring fencing funding for noctors, etc.
But this is some kind of BS breif to Pulse who might want to delve deeper before they print propaganda.
I suggest GPs work to rule (as planned by BMA-stop unfunded work-literally NHS would collapse if we stoppped doing unfended work) to get ARRS funding into core, PCN management under practice control (not government/NHSE control which is how they are trying to take over General Practice) and GPs insist on an uplift to core contract to cover previous and future inflation (and an energy cost uplift would be useful).
I recommend a single qof indicator of patient time spent in direct contact with a GP, patient’s choice of how that is carried out: F2F or phone.
Job done.
Oh and underwrite the unlimited liablity and I will sign up for parnership with costs and inflationary rises guaranteed. Maybe a load of us salaried and locums would be up for it when it is not such a risky and dire model to be a partner.
I locum at one of their surgeries. extremely light on doctors, everthing triaged by pharmacists, more remotely by telephone, no duty list-managed by tasks to doctors remotely, main doctors running it do remote consultations.
I think we are being fed some BS here.
To be fair the government have driven this by effectively reducing core funding (as no uplift with inflation), ring fencing funding for noctors, etc.
But this is some kind of BS breif to Pulse who might want to delve deeper before they print propaganda.
I suggest GPs work to rule (as planned by BMA-stop unfunded work-literally NHS would collapse if we stoppped doing unfended work) to get ARRS funding into core, PCN management under practice control (not government/NHSE control which is how they are trying to take over General Practice) and GPs insist on an uplift to core contract to cover previous and future inflation (and an energy cost uplift would be useful).
I recommend a single qof indicator of patient time spent in direct contact with a GP, patient’s choice of how that is carried out: F2F or phone.
Job done.
Oh and underwrite the unlimited liablity and I will sign up for parnership with costs and inflationary rises guaranteed. Maybe a load of us salaried and locums would be up for it when it is not such a risky and dire model to be a partner.
It’s a ltd company not a partnership.
I locum at one of their surgeries. extremely light on doctors, everthing triaged by pharmacists, mostly remotely by telephone, no duty list-managed by tasks to doctors remotely, main doctors running the company do remote consultations for the surgery.
I think we are being fed some BS here.
To be fair the government have driven this by effectively reducing core funding (as no uplift with inflation), ring fencing funding for noctors, etc.
But this is some kind of BS breif to Pulse who might want to delve deeper before they print propaganda.
I suggest GPs work to rule (as planned by BMA-stop unfunded work-literally NHS would collapse if we stoppped doing unfended work) to get ARRS funding into core, PCN management under practice control (not government/NHSE control which is how they are trying to take over General Practice) and GPs insist on an uplift to core contract to cover previous and future inflation (and an energy cost uplift would be useful).
I recommend a single qof indicator of patient time spent in direct contact with a GP, patient’s choice of how that is carried out: F2F or phone.
Job done.
Oh and underwrite the unlimited liablity and I will sign up for parnership with costs and inflationary rises guaranteed. Maybe a load of us salaried and locums would be up for it when it is not such a risky and dire model to be a partner.
Fuller are a ltd company not a partnership.
I locum at one of their surgeries. extremely light on doctors, everthing triaged by pharmacists, mostly remotely by telephone, no duty list-managed by tasks to doctors remotely, main doctors running it do remote consultations.
I think we are being fed some BS here.
To be fair the government have driven this by effectively reducing core funding (as no uplift with inflation), ring fencing funding for noctors, etc.
But this is some kind of BS breif to Pulse who might want to delve deeper before they print propaganda.
I suggest GPs work to rule (as planned by BMA-stop unfunded work-literally NHS would collapse if we stoppped doing unfended work) to get ARRS funding into core, PCN management under practice control (not government/NHSE control which is how they are trying to take over General Practice) and GPs insist on an uplift to core contract to cover previous and future inflation (and an energy cost uplift would be useful).
I recommend a single qof indicator of patient time spent in direct contact with a GP, patient’s choice of how that is carried out: F2F or phone.
Job done.
Oh and underwrite the unlimited liablity and I will sign up for parnership with costs and inflationary rises guaranteed. Maybe a load of us salaried and locums would be up for it when it is not such a risky and dire model to be a partner.
This is ableist, any doctor who is clinically vulnerable will now be forced to work face to face with no choice , risking repeat infections with Covid (which we know increases risk of Long Covid,stroke and MIs) and other diseases now spreading such as Whooping cough, TB, measles etc.
But then most clinically vulnerable people already know that our doctors don’t care about us anymore, refusing to take any infection control measures and sneering at us/gaslighting that we are ‘anxious’ (even in chemotherapy clinics for example) So the fact that doctors now don’t care even about each others well being is sad but maybe predictable.
It is about money. GMS does not pay for basic services any more. So everyone needs LES/ DES/ PCN/ ARRS to stay afloat. Everyone has to look for savings. More and more services are left to other agencies and secondary care trusts take on more with less especially in MIU/ UTC. I expect more cuts and central diktat. Wes Streeting looks like more of the same.
Come on Pulse dig deeper ?how much is this contract worth. Why do we have to put up with this two tier funding that rewards CEO’s and punishes GP’s.
If you can’t feel a patients aura or smell their pheromones it ain’t a consultation.