North Lincolnshire GP determined to tackle staffing shortage

A North Lincolnshire GP said he is determined to tackle shortages in practitioners which is affecting services in the county.

Faisel Baig, who also chairs the local clinical commissioning group, said that the majority of practices in the region are doing well but the shortage still needs to be dealt with.

A lack of staff is a problem across healthcare nationally, with services being affected and changed in order to cope.

Dr Baig, who began his career in Manchester, said he returned to his hometown of Scunthorpe to “give something back”.

Health Place, Brigg, where North Lincolnshire CCG is based.

One of those things is to try and retain practitioners in his local area as GPs either leave or retire.

“It only takes a few GPs to leave a practice and the situation can become unstable,” he said.

“We need to make sure that we are keeping GPs for as long as we can by making sure their workloads are safe and acceptable.

“We need to make sure that people who come here to train that we show them what a great place North Lincolnshire is and get them to stay.”

Too much workload and not enough trainees staying in the region is a problem for health services in North Lincolnshire.

But Dr Baig said he intends to continue working “actively” with new recruits to persuade them to stay in the region.

The health service, both nationally and locally, is set to be affected by practitioners retiring and a lack of staff to take their place.

Dr Baig said the area and the country is set to see a large number of GPs retire over the next five years.

But he said that the focus for North Lincolnshire CCG needs to be on persuading trainees to stay and managing workloads for current surgeries.

He added that another strategy for the organisation will be to improve community care which will see GPs work alongside the council and other organisations to provide healthcare closer to patients’ homes.

Scunthorpe General Hospital. Picture: Colin Babb.

“Our drive is towards what we called community services,” he said.

“We really want the hospital to be used for when a hospital is required and for when people need specialist input.

“We want as many people as possible to be treated in the community and close to home rather than having to make those journeys to a specialist.”

Part of the strategy will also be to focus on mental health and giving it the same priority as physical health.

Dr Baig said that the aim is for the CCG, GPs and local authority to work together on healthcare and that the organisation is “committed” to meeting its own challenges.

SUBSCRIBE TO LOCAL DEMOCRACY WEEKLY, our exclusive email newsletter with highlights from our coverage every week and insights and analysis from our local democracy reporters.