GPs ‘feeling the strain’ from rises in rates of flu

Responding to data from the Research and Surveillance Centre on the rising number of influenza-like illnesses in general practice, Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said:

“GPs and our teams are certainly facing an extremely busy and challenging winter. As we move further into winter, we are seeing rates of flu pile on pressure across the health service - not least in general practice where consultation rates for ILI are now above seasonal average.

“We often see hospitals pressures make the headlines, but GPs and our teams are feeling the strain as well. It goes without saying when you consider the vast majority of NHS patient contacts are made in general practice and last winter this involved delivering over 185.4 million appointments, equivalent to over 1 million appointments per day.

“We continue to urge any patients who are eligible for flu jabs to get them, if they haven’t already - and as a College we’re extremely thankful for the hard work of GPs and our teams up and down the country who have been working hard for months now to ensure as many patients in at-risk groups are vaccinated as possible.

“Winter makes the pressures facing general practice more acute - but we’re under pressure all year round. There have been promising signs from the Health Secretary - and what we need to see now is investment and initiatives to recruit and retain the GPs we need to solve this workforce crisis. The current situation is dire, but with the right investment and realistic initiatives to recruit and retain more GPs, we can turn things around.”

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.