Warning as GPs’ strike could leave surgeries closed for a WEEK in row over funding

ONE in three GPs have threatened to shut their doors for a week in protest over pay, polling reveals.

Family doctors warn they will join consultants and junior doctors on the picket lines if they don’t get more cash in next year’s contract. 

A survey of 362 GP partners by doctor’s magazine found 54 per cent would stop routine appointments for a day while 31 per cent would down tools for a week.

Dr Kieran Sharrock, of the British Medical Association (BMA), said: “GPs have made clear they will consider taking industrial action. 

“The Government must negotiate a contract that properly reflects the challenges in general practice and which gives practices the support they need to care for patients.”

It comes after junior doctors and consultants in the BMA held strikes last week despite a pay rise that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said is the “final offer”.

NHS strikes have led to 700,000 appointments and operations being cancelled this year already and are wrecking attempts to cut waiting lists.

Dr Pete Deveson, a GP in Surrey, said he would be “delighted” to strike in a bid to “improve the pay and conditions of NHS doctors”. 

Salaried GPs in England earn between £65,000 and £98,000, which was increased by six per cent this month.

But this pay rise did not include GP partners in the Pulse survey, who run surgeries and take home an average of £140,000. 

The NHS is currently facing a shortage of GPs as huge workloads and burnout is causing many to quit. 

Some medics fear shutting surgeries could make their situation worse. 

One said: “The workload is already overwhelming, stopping for a day would just add to work the following few days”. 

Over half of GPs, 51 per cent, said they would take industrial action by simply sending patients to their local hospital instead of seeing them.

Six in 10 said they would consider diverting all patients to NHS 111 and A&E for one day. 

Another GP warned against passing the buck onto other parts of the NHS.

“There would be no point diverting to 111, they would just send them back,” they said.

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “Government spending on General Practice rose by just over a fifth in real terms between 2016 and 2021.

“Through our primary care recovery plan we are also helping GPs to tackle the 8am rush using technology, provide better access to appointments and cut waiting times backed by £240 million of funding.”

It comes as new figures suggest one in six people have waited at least two weeks to see a GP in England in the past year.

Several thousand faced the interval between booking and their appointment in the 12 months to May.

The data was released by the Liberal Democrats who are calling for ministers to employ 8,000 more GPs.