All parts of the NHS are under pressure at the moment but often it is our much-loved GP surgeries in small West Sussex towns like Storrington, Henfield, Angmering and Pulborough who find themselves on the front line. Last Friday, I visited to The Petworth Surgery to see for myself the excellent work the whole team there are doing – including making sure that those patients who want a face-to-face appointment can get one. I met with current GP and Clinical Director, Dr Stephanie Temperton and retired GP, Dr Simon Pett who himself has returned to temporarily help out.
Smaller rural practices such as the one in Petworth are an absolute lifeline: keeping our communities functioning, supporting residents in care homes, dispensing prescriptions to those unable to reach a pharmacy and of course helping to deal with the Covid pandemic for over eighteen solid months now. With recruitment challenging due to its rural location this practice has none the less managed to increase patient appointments by 14% compared to a similar period in 2019.
Practice Manager, Hafiza Bhabha, (pictured) showed me how reception staff deal professionally with hundreds of calls a week as well as hearing stories of how a small minority of frustrated patients can make them feel undervalued: I reiterated the view of NHS England that there is no place for aggression, abuse or uncivility in society. The team also brought to life for me some of the frustrations of working in the complex, multi-tiered national health system however much it is true that, even ignoring COVID spending, the NHS will spend over 10% more money this year than two years ago. Some GP funding for example is tied to specific activities or cannot be spent if extra staff cannot be found. Practice care co-ordinator, Samuel Butler was invaluable in explaining the knock-on impact of the care system on practices as well as reservations about the impact on staffing in the care sector of mandatory vaccination.
As an elected representative wanting to protect and to support our West Sussex GP’s, I learned lots that I will take back and will raise with Ministers.
