Lincolnshire faces a healthcare funding crisis that could push the already strained GP sector into the abyss if more money isn’t made available, a local doctor and medical expert has warned councillors.
Dr Reid Baker, a GP and medical director of the Lincolnshire Local Medical Committee, said that despite the hard work of those within the sector, the current model of practice is “under a lot of pressure” and “not viable” unless circumstances around funding and demand change.
Lincolnshire’s Health Scrutiny Committee heard last week that general practices provide 92 per cent of first patient contacts across NHS England, but are given just six per cent of the overall funding package for national healthcare.
Dr Baker argues GPs need “at least double that” to fulfil the rising demand of patient care.
He said the sector had a major dilemma with factors including a 25.5 per cent shortfall across the last five years. This, among other issues, has resulted in a major dilemma for the sector to address.
There had also been national minimum wage increases, alongside a 20 per cent reduction in the number of practices in Lincolnshire over the last decade. There are 81 in total.
Dr Baker said the county’s ageing population created a “multi-faceted” issue for the its health sector.
“We’ve got an increasing population, an increasing elderly population with a lot more medical conditions, and that is increasingly challenging in this environment, particularly around recruitment and retention of GPs and GP colleagues.
“The financial challenges of the new GP contract have left us with yet another less than real term rise, which actually gives us a 20 per cent reduction in GP funding over the last seven to eight years, while we’re actually doing about 20 per cent more work than we ever were.
“We’re trying to do all that we can, but the pressures are mounting, and that’s difficult for all our colleagues as well as the patients themselves.”
Coun Tom Smith asked if the system in place for GPs was “workable” in its present form.
“The report says more taxpayer money is needed and, well, I’ll be blunt and say that isn’t really an option.
“Money doesn’t grow on trees and the NHS allocation as a whole has been protected for years.
“As local government we are responsible for adult social care, and the NHS is going to have a world of pain on its hands if we suddenly say we can’t deal with it anymore. So to say we need more money please, again I’ll be blunt, get in line because we all do!”
This was challenged by Coun Charmaine Morgan who felt the sector was “on the edge of being unsustainable” and argued funding levels for the wider NHS was a “political decision.”
Chair of the Health Scrutiny Committee, Coun Carl Macey commented that he felt Lincolnshire’s health sector was “one of the worst funded in the country” during this debate.
Dr Baker said of the funding pressures that it was both a local and national problem, and he hoped to get “proper, above inflation funding” for the health sector and particularly GP provision, as a long-term solution.
“The last thing we want is to see the practices struggling and then the patients struggling to get the care they need, so if we can all work together, we can try to support the GPs, because they are the bedrock of the NHS.”
