By Dr Katie Rogerson
scapegoat /ˈskeɪpɡəʊt/ noun: scapegoat;
1. a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency
Similar: whipping boy, victim, Aunt Sally, goat, fall guy, patsy
A short story about how GPs have become the scapegoat for everything in healthcare in 2021.
I have spoken on Instagram about the challenges of getting my own loved ones sorted during the pandemic. However, that isn’t because our GP is a giant lazy arsehole. On the contrary, like GPs across the country, they are working harder than ever.
Have you ever scrubbed so hard your knuckles go white and your arm muscles spasm as they can’t take it another second? Yes – that hard.
Pretty much EVERYONE in healthcare has worked that hard over the past 18 months.
Record numbers of consultations
GPs not only had to revamp their services entirely, but they also dished out 75% of the vaccination programme and created extra clinics where hospital ones were dropped. It is a hard FACT that GPs are doing record numbers of consultations.
The total triage system was adopted overnight on the request of NHS England/those government folk. Although, in fairness to those on high, this was executed in order to reduce footfall in primary care and protect patients and staff from the lurgy (Covid-19).
The NHS has knowingly been chronically UNDERfunded, UNDERmined and UNDERvalued for many painful YEARS. We NHS peeps have been telling you this for ages. We KNEW we were in painfully poor shape to take on something like a pandemic, but no one seemed to care. So how this is panning out is so frustrating.
No, not frustrating. DEVASTATING.
GPs mucked in alongside the rest of us. And then the press started to lead you all a merry dance and everyone jumped in.
Everything bad is on the up
The reality is this: Your local GP is now a shadow of their former self, burnt out, exhausted AND fighting against misinformation and ugly suspicions.
Yes, there aren’t enough appointments. This is because everyone chose not to prioritise the NHS when they could have. It took a pandemic to show everyone that the NHS was important. And people have forgotten. The NHS was ALREADY gaping rota gaps. And now there is PTSD, burn out and Covid gaps. Morale is rock bottom dragging along the floor. Suicide, divorce, everything bad is on the up.
So be clear on the complexities. Realise words hurt. The more negativities you write on social media, the more you push away the remaining few you need, making the problem worse for all of us. And it doesn’t actually improve anything.
You are in a playground ganging up on the slightly awkward kid in the corner, not realising her dad just got diagnosed with terminal cancer and you are about to tip her irreparably over the edge. So why don’t you walk around and extend a hand to her, find out for yourself what is happening, rather than being on the side who will take her down.
A human can only take so much
I am sorry there was a pandemic and I am sorry that it has created so much mess. But this workforce couldn’t do or give anymore. And that includes GPs.
Winter is imminent (always horrendous). Many are only just holding on in there.
NHS staff are human too. And a human can only take so much.
So please consider a redesign of how you might want to respond. Think polite, respectful, empathetic. Think about directing frustrations directly to MPs and the like, or in carefully worded way to practice managers to give them a chance to look at the situation.
How will threatening GPs help?
Just think. And if your sympathy with NHS staff has run out, that’s fine. But please do consider the consequences of your actions. How will pushing away our few remaining staff help? How will refusing to acknowledge what they HAVE achieved help? How will threatening them help? It just won’t.
So many of you are telling us at the moment that the NHS is awful and that you wouldn’t be seen dead using it. But you might not have a choice. And that GP whose heart you are currently breaking might just be the one you need to be at their best.
So if not for them, or for us, please think again for yourself.