Local GP representatives from across the UK have condemned hostility against general practice in the media.
Nearly all – 96% – of delegates attending the UK LMCs conference voted in favour of a motion to ‘condemn the ill-informed and unwarranted negativity and hostility by the press and on social media towards general practice’.
Speaking in favour of the motion, Wirral GP Dr Abel Adegoke said GPs are at the ‘receiving end of those who are frustrated, because they couldn’t get the utopia-type of NHS service that were promised by governments who really only want their votes’.
He added that the NHS ‘works very well’ however ‘only using the blood of the staff’.
Western Isles GP Dr Nicola Herron, proposer of the motion, said: ‘Every time there’s a headline about how busy our emergency departments are, and how difficult and how long the patients have to wait in them, they get more funding and more staff. We are missing a trick.’
Last year, Pulse covered extensively how GPs were vilified in the mainstream media for allegedly shirking their patient-consulting responsibilities.
And a Pulse survey detailed how the public perception led to increased levels of abuse against GPs and staff – especially receptionists.
Meanwhile, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) recently ruled that a GP-bashing article linking remote GP consultations with stillbirths, published by Mail Online, was ‘misleading’.
Motion in full:
AGENDA COMMITTEE TO BE PROPOSED BY NORTHERN IRELAND CONFERENCE OF LMCs:
That conference applauds the efforts of health and care workers during the pandemic, and:
(i) praises general practice for continuing to deliver safe and effective healthcare throughout, including face to face consultations where appropriate, alongside the vaccination programme – PASSED
(ii) calls upon GPC UK to work alongside Northern Ireland GPC, GPC Wales, GPC Scotland and GPC England in proactively ensuring that the public know that their practices are, and have been, open – PASSED AS A REFERENCE
(iii) condemns the ill-informed and unwarranted negativity and hostility by the press and on social media towards general practice – PASSED
(iv) calls for changes to the GMS (General Medical Services) regulations to allow for the immediate removal of an individual from the practice list for any form of abuse – PASSED AS A REFERENCE
(v) calls on the BMA to lobby for increased sentencing for those abusing general practice staff – PASSED AS A REFERENCE
Source: BMA
READERS' COMMENTS [2]
Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles
We will be abused until we learn to stand up for ourselves. And this is not by proposing motions complaining about ill informed headlines.
Until you stop doing the work and start creating some collateral damage – you will always be slagged off and underfunded. You create your own story.