More than
half the family doctors in the UK will consider resigning from their NHS
contracts next year if the government fails to agree new contracts and
negotiating rights for the GPs.
In
a ballot of 36,000 GPs in the UK by the British Medical Association, 86 per
cent voted that they would think about quitting if the situation did not
improve.
Dr
Hamish Meldrum, joint deputy chairman of the BMA’s General Practitioner’s
committee said, “The message this ballot sends could not be clearer or louder.
The result demonstrates the depth of disenchantment, despair and disillusion
felt by GPs throughout the UK.”
Many
of the problems in general practice stem from having too many doctors faced
with an increasing workload, said the BMA.
The
BMA estimates that 10,000 additional doctors are needed for the new NHS plan,
yet the government has promised only 2000 extra GPs over a four-year period.
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