Rita E.Ogden

Lead Occupational Health Specialist Practitioner

Occupational Health Service

Westbrook Building 9H

Bradford College

Great Horton Road

Bradford BD7 1AY

Tel: 01274 433259

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dr Mark O'Connor
Sent: 04 March 2010 16:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fit Note PP presentation

If there were one massive employer immedaitely adjacent to a small practice with a population that overlapped then I can see some sense in establishing some links with HR departments for mutual benefit

The realitly however is that GPs are busier now than at any time in the past and recent estimates indicate the job intensity has more than doubled in the last 10 years. I can testify to daily requests for meetings with a plethora of organisations, individuals working for PCTs, physios, outreach teams, hospices, district nurses, health visitors, patient participation groups, clinical governance teams, deanery... add to this the massive shift in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching that has taken place from secondary to primary care and then add the new contract Quality and Outcomes framework which has seen a massive expansion ( mostly good ) of formalised efficient follow up of most chronic diseases and you start to get some idea that you have to compete for our time

Each GP in my practice receives at least 50 letters a day relating to patients many of which require further actioning and about 30 blood test result, xray etc per day.. to review

We process approx 200 repeat scripts per day all of which need checking agianst the notes, ... oh and we see 600+ patients per week also - so please do not be offended if your approaches for meetings are dealt with by the round filing cabinet!

General Practice has changed massivly in the last 5 years and I'm not sure many of you realise this - in fact I think the tone of many posts and responses on this list suggest a fairly fixed sterotypical idea about a typical GP  [dons flak jacket ;) ]

Mark