They say you shouldn’t be a GP partner any more Increasing workload Falling income Difficulty recruiting Risk of being last man standing
But why has this happened There has been a squeeze on funding There are increasing demands from patients There is transferred pressure from the rest of a system which is struggling And some practices have failed to adapt to these changes
So what are people saying you should do? Be a non-partner and leave the extra work and responsibility to partners? This works fine as long as there are partners willing to take the load. But this leaves you vulnerable and dependent on finding partners.Hire non-doctors to see patients. This increases the number of appointments but non-doctors pass the difficult clinical and business risk back to doctors.Smooth out peaks and troughs by making patients see any doctor. This increases efficiency by making sure all appointments are used but at the expense of seeing patients you don’t know and stopping you building relationships with them.
These may seem like good ideas but they build a terrible life in the long term
How can you improve things WITHOUT building a terrible life?Trust patients to only see you when they need to and to do more for themselves. Use their own ability to look after themselves and treat them as partners not consumers.Develop expert reception / admin staff who know their patients and know the clinicians they look after. Autonomy, trust, career progression and job satisfaction all boost retention and improve the care they give to patients.Use Doctor time for new diagnosis and complex management. Improve continuity with patients while concentrating on those tasks that only Doctors do well. Delegate protocol tasks to non-doctors.Focus on your core business of seeing and treating patients you know. Undertake other tasks and help the rest of the system only if resources allow.
At Milton we believe Partners are good for General PracticePartners have a long term commitment to their Patients and Staff, and care about their needs. As owners of the business they have the authority to prioritise these needs.Partners have a personal responsibility for the quality of care given by their practice to their patients so they make sure it is the kind of care they would like their loved ones to receive.This high trust relationship improves the way patients treat partners and enhances the enjoyment they get from practicing medicine.
Do you want this kind of Partnership?We have filled our current vacancies but we would love to talk to you if you are interested in working with us in the future or if you are a like-minded practice and want to promote an alternative to generic impersonal care.