NHS General Practice is available 24/7, via GP Out of Hours services – both Heather and John have done GP Out of Hours work in the past (Heather during the second wave of the pandemic in 2020).
Most NHS GPs work incredibly hard – 10 to 12 hour working days are not uncommon, and many GPs do log on to their computer at the weekend to catch up on paperwork and filing results, even if they are not working in Out of Hours. The reason that many patients are struggling to access NHS General Practice are complex and are not due to GPs being lazy – rather, issues like funding, recruitment, and retention contribute.
Heather and John both work in the NHS too, and will mostly be working for Formby GP at times they would not otherwise be working. Furthermore, we plan to offer a 7 day advice service to subscribers.
One of the advantages for us in doing private work is that it gives us a high degree of control and flexibility about when we work, which is particularly important to us because we have a child with health needs which require us to be available a lot of the time. The alternative for us isn’t doing more NHS work.
On a personal note, we have recently had a very positive experience at Ormskirk Hospital when our child was unwell. We are grateful to everyone who works in the NHS for the incredible work that they do.