Challenges of being a GP in remote areas | Letter

Letter: It’s not surprising that rural practices such as Coniston in the Lake District find it hard to recruit GPs, writes Dr John Holden

Regarding your report (Lake District village struggles to find GP – despite ad pledging ‘we’ll never run out of beer’, 11 February), Coniston’s situation is not a question of marketing flair but of structural pressure in rural general practice.

Findings from a recent survey of our member doctors working in rural and remote areas underline the scale of the challenge. One in four doctors told us that working in a single-handed practice has negatively affected their wellbeing or contributed to burnout.

A striking 71% believe rural and remote healthcare is not properly understood by government and policymakers. Doctors have told us that there is a “lack of rural-proofing policy”, with services increasingly centralised and general practice described as “defunded and salami-sliced”. Others describe the pressure of covering wide areas with limited staff and patients who face long journeys to access secondary care.

Rural general practice remains professionally rewarding. But unless policy reflects the realities of isolation, workload and access, recruitment campaigns alone will not secure its future.
Dr John Holden
Chief medical officer, Medical and dental defence union of Scotland

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