July 4, 2022 11.55 am This story is over 20 months old

Lincolnshire GPs in crisis: Call for understanding from frustrated patients

‘Vent anger to government not your local surgery’

GPs across Lincolnshire and Yorkshire have signed an open letter to their patients calling for support at a time when the profession is in crisis.

With GP numbers dropping and patient numbers increasing, many people are not being able to get through on the phone and struggling to get an appointment.

The campaign group behind the letter – Rebuild General Practice, want the government to recruit and retain more GPs before the situation gets worse.

They acknowledge that “general practice is in crisis” and added that it is because of “decades of underfunding, neglect, broken government promises and political contempt for you – our patients – that this system is fractured.”

Dr Abdur-Rauff Mahroof, director at The Humberside Group of Local Medical Committees Ltd, told BBC Look North that staff have been suffering verbal abuse.

He said they are seeing a a mental health crisis among receptionists and doctors and “it’s got to a point where someone needs to have that conversation with patients”.