OVERWORKED GPs in Worcestershire say they are at "breaking point" and can no longer ensure their patients' safety.

Dr Simon Parkinson, secretary of the Worcestershire Local Medical Committee, said there is now a broad consensus among county GPs that the Government must take urgent action to prevent the crisis deepening further.

He says under-pressure GPs are having to deal with surging patient numbers, ever-increasing red tape and being asked to treat patients with complex health problems in just 10-minute slots.

He told your Worcester News that the situation for GPs has become so dire that they are now saying "enough is enough", with many considering walking away entirely.

Dr Parkinson and Worcester GP Dr John O'Driscoll, of the Spring Gardens Group Medical Practice, were among four delegates from Worcestershire to attend a special conference of local medical committees in London on Saturday (January 30).

The Worcestershire LMC represents around 480 GPs and 66 county practices.

Dr Parkinson said: "We're saying 'enough is enough'. One of the options GPs are discussing is sending undated resignation letters to the Department of Health, threatening to quit. We voted to explore that.

"I didn't think we would ever get to that stage. It just shows how bad things have got. People are saying 'we will walk'. The guy who diagnoses your cancer could have been working since the crack of dawn and is completely exhausted and nobody worries about it? They should.

"People can vote with their feet. It is now reaching breaking point. Something has to be done within the next six months."

Dr Parkinson said the average number of consultations for a patient has risen from four per year to eight and that the system simply does not allow GPS time to do their job.

For example a single patient with diabetes, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease requires more time than a typical 10 minute consultation.

His surgery has two doctors on call on Monday to deal with increased demand and can get 100 patients asking for an emergency appointment before 11.30am.

He says this picture is being repeated in GP surgeries right across the county.

"Patients are saying they can't get an appointment. Well no, they can't. Every day GPs are getting blood results and x-rays to check," he said.

"It's not unusual to get 50 letters a day. As well as everything else I have to read them and action them. There is an almighty problem with bureaucracy."

He believes under-investment is part of the problem, with NHS spending on GP services falling from 11 per cent to seven per cent over the last decade.

The spend on average he says is £141 per patient per year when it should be in excess of £200.

Dr Parkinson added: "It costs more to insure your pet for a year than to fund a patient's GP care for that year. The fundamental issue is massive increasing demand and reducing expenditure.

"People are not getting seen quickly. They're being rushed. Most of us do 10 minute consultations. No GPs in other parts of Europe do 10 minute consultations. Ten minutes to sort out a a patient with heart failure and diabetes and kidney disease is a joke.

"This is now clinically unsafe. It's not sustainable. That is one of the reasons so many GPs are leaving."

Dr Parkinson said he and other GPs want to see better management of patient demand by the Government, a bigger slice of the overall NHS budget, a reduction of bureaucracy and better financial support for struggling GP practices to stop them closing.

He backs a BMA survey of 2,900 practices in England which shows that half of GP practices report patient care is “deteriorating” as GP services buckle under rising workload.

The BMA’s survey was answered by just over a third of GP practices in England and asked about their current workload.

Over half of GP Practices in England (55 per cent) reported that the quality of service in their practice had deteriorated in the past twelve months.

Just 2 per cent of practices said their workload was low or generally manageable.

More than half (55 per cent) said their workload was unmanageable a lot of the time while just over one in ten (13 per cent) said it was unmanageable all of the time.

Nine out of ten practices (92 per cent) said that there had been a rise in demand for appointments in the past twelve months.

The survey showed that the West Midlands had the highest level of unmanageable workload.

Dr Beth McCarron, BMA GP Executive team member said: “These figures clearly show that general practice is in a state of emergency with the majority of GP practices across England registering a deterioration in the quality of care being delivered to patients.

“This is clearly the result of rising workload, including increasing patient demand for appointments which is placing unsustainable pressure on GP services that have been starved of resources and staff."