The head of an organisation that provides GP services across Somerset – including in Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge – has this week warned that a chronic reliance on expensive agency staff is “not sustainable”.
Symphony Healthcare Services has had to spend £3m on locum GPs in the past financial year across Somerset.
The organisation’s Medical Director, Dr Berge Balian, pictured above, has told the BBC that “difficult decisions will have to be made” without improved funding.
His warning comes as the Department of Health and Social Care has said there have been 2,300 more GPs since 2019. But the Royal College of GPs does not recognise that figure and said GP numbers have fallen by 713 fully qualified full-time equivalent positions since 2019. The Commons Health Select Committee has itself said general practice is in crisis.
Dr Balian adds: “I think most people would recognise it is currently in crisis.”
When Symphony Healthcare Services started in 2016, it took over three GP surgeries that could not attract enough partners to run them as a private business.
Since then it has employed more and more salaried GPs to work in 16 surgeries across 20 locations in Somerset and Devon – including Burnham and Berrow Medical Centre which was placed in special measures in November – and Highbridge Medical Centre.
But over the years it has had to rely more heavily on expensive agency GPs that cost up to £1,000 a shift.
And because Symphony Healthcare Services is owned by Yeovil hospital, this has contributed to a £12m spend on agency staff last year.
Dr Balian – who is a GP – says many doctors are retiring early because their jobs have become too stressful.
He says: “In the last three years the number of consultations general practice has done in the country has increased by two million while the number of GPs has dropped by 1,800 roughly.”
“You can see why it ends up being a significant pressure on those GPs who are responsible for managing that contract and caring for patients under that contract.”
Dr Balian also said there is a financial incentive for GPs to move away from being partners to work as locum doctors because they can earn more than £1,000 a day and also benefit from being in the NHS pension scheme.
Symphony Healthcare Services spent £3m on GP locums in the year 2021-22 and Dr Balian said expanding further, with a bigger agency staff bill, is not sustainable.
He said: “If you look at general practice, demand is increasing, its capacity is reducing, its funding in real terms is also reducing.”
“The only solution to that is either increasing the amount of funding into GPs, or you say actually, nationally we will make a decision that GPs that used to provide this amount of service can only provide this amount of service and that bit needs to be done elsewhere.”
Since it started Symphony Healthcare Services has set up a new model for family medicine which relies heavily on health coaches, physios and pharmacists to relieve pressure.
