Dear Jack,

Over the last twenty months, there has been a national concerted effort to work together to get through the Covid crisis. Patients have been incredibly respectful of the pressure doctors have been under during the worst of the pandemic. And extraordinary measures had to be taken to alleviate the burden on GP practices, including the instigation of ’total triage’, which meant that everyone had to have a video or telephone consultation before they were able to get a face-to-face appointment. 

That allowed GP’s to prioritise care for those most sick and most in need. 

But now we are in a completely different place. With over 80% of adults having now received two doses of the covid vaccine, the link between getting the virus and being seriously ill, requiring hospitalisation, or dying as a result, has largely been broken. Over 90% of people are now thought to have antibodies against the virus. We are through the worst of the pandemic.

But the hidden costs of this crisis are only just surfacing.

There are now over six million people waiting for elective procedures on the NHS. And there is concern that this could rise as high as 12 million. Thousands of patients haven’t started radiotherapy or chemotherapy to treat their cancers and there are thousands of excess deaths from non-covid conditions such as heart disease and cancer.  

But the sad truth is that patients are still struggling to see a GP. Many practices are still refusing to see patients face-to-face. And those most vulnerable—the elderly and those with chronic illnesses are suffering. Just over half of all patients are now being seen face-to-face. Before Covid, that number was 80%

Now GP’s have been told that patients must be given face-to-face appointments if that is what they wish. Practices have also been told that they must be open to walk-in patients. 

But the doctor’s union—the British Medical Association is on the warpath and threatening industrial action.

The BMA is acting wholly inappropriately and potentially putting patients’ lives in danger. It is now totally out of touch with public opinion. 

It’s worth considering that the average GP works three days a week. The average salary is £100,000 before taxes and expenses, and GP’s spend under 60% of their time seeing patients. 

Contrast that with the millions of people who got no government help, saw their businesses collapse and their livelihoods destroyed. 

There are some fantastic GP’s in the NHS, but this proposed action by the BMA will completely undermine their good work. 

The public won’t wear it and the BMA must be sent a strong message that the British public will not tolerate its bully boy tactics.