Dear Patient,
GPs and their practice teams provide the vast majority of NHS care outside of hospitals, supporting you and your family throughout your lives. In a perfect world, we want to be able to offer every patient:
Safety – prompt access to a GP or Practice Nurse you trust, with well-staffed surgeries and enough resource so that no patient feels left behind.
Stability – a family doctor who knows you, your medical history, and your community without the stress and difficulty of finding it difficult to get an appointment.

Hope for the future – care that focuses on keeping you well, not just treating illness. We want more time for meaningful consultations, joined-up support closer to your home, from modern GP surgery premises with safe and effective technology to make this possible.

The government talks of “bringing back the family doctor” but what politicians promise is often not planned properly or funded fairly to be able to be delivered 
in reality.

Rising demand, fewer GPs – GPs care for 17% more patients than in 2015, but with fewer GPs. Funding has not kept pace, so many patients find it hard to see their GP quickly, leading to the stressful scramble to secure an appointment. 
Practice closures – Around 2,000 practices have been lost since 2010, that’s one in four surgeries, leaving fewer local practices and longer waits or travel for patients.
Funding pressures – Practices receive just 31p per patient per day to provide unlimited consultations with our doctors and nurses, making it hard to employ enough staff and sustain services. 
Workforce challenges – More GPs are leaving the NHS than joining. While our staff work tirelessly, system pressures and patient frustration can affect everyone’s morale and wellbeing. We have unemployed GPs now – and practices lack funds to hire them.
Unsafe workloads – Many GPs see far more than the accepted safe limit of patients per day, often working over 60 hours a week. Recent government changes risk making this worse.
Ageing buildings – One in five GP surgeries is now over 75 years old – older than the NHS itself which started in 1948. There is very little investment to provide modern facilities fit for today’s needs.
Access versus continuity – Government policy means speed of an appointment comes before choice. This lack of continuity of care, means patients often don’t get to see a familiar face who knows them well. 
Demand management – We always aim to respond to all appointment and advice requests promptly, prioritising those most in need. 

– At present, GPs and their teams are under huge pressure – caring for more people with fewer resources. 
– Without proper investment, the safety, stability and continuity of care that patients value most are at risk.
– As your GP practice, we will always do what we can to deliver the best service possible for you and your family. With the right resources and support, we could expand our services, employ more staff, and deliver the safe, timely, and personalised care you deserve.
– Please remember that our current GP contract funds patient care on average at 31p per day per patient, which is not enough to meet rising demand and to provide the care you and your family deserve.

So please bear with us – and thank you for your support as we try our best for you and your family.

As part of saving money in the NHS, the Government require us to reduce the number of SMS we send.

IF YOU CAN, please register for the NHS App and TURN ON notifications.  This means that our messages to you will come through to your phone in the same manner as an SMS (as a "push notification"). 

ALSO - please ensure we have your personal email.  We will have to send many longer messages this way.

PLEASE DO NOT WORRY, if you do not have an email or a smart phone, we are working hard to ensure that our communication channels are as efficient and effective for you also.