Tyneside GP's call for fewer soundbites and more big picture solutions ahead of general election

A Gateshead GP is urging politicians to work together to find solutions to the challenges facing the NHS.

As the general election approaches, Dr Becky Haines is calling for fewer "soundbites" and more co-operation between political parties when it comes to the health service.

She said: "There's too many soundbites and incentive schemes whereas we need to look at the healthcare and social care system as one and try to look to a bigger picture rather than just doing the next political promise."

Dr Haines was speaking as ITV Tyne Tees spent time with her and colleagues at Glenpark Medical Practice, which serves around nine thousand people across Dunston and neighbouring areas.

In common with other practices, the team is juggling the needs of on-the-day patients alongside managing those with long term conditions.

Dr Haines told us that demand for appointments always outstrips the supply.

She explained: "We're trying to balance the fact that we have the planned pro-active care we need to do for people with long term conditions like asthma, diabetes but also we need to see people who are unwell and it's trying to balance the forward planning appointments with the acute, same day access appointments."

While some pressures have eased since the winter months, in June the practice is still seeing large numbers of patients with coughs, colds and diarrhoea.

Those shorter term issues are coupled with a broader rise in mental health conditions, which according to Dr Haines, are often linked to physical and social issues.

Helen Ford heard what staff and patients thought about the NHS while at Glenpark Medical Practice in Dunston

A team of four or five receptionists takes calls from opening time, finding appointments for those most in need and directing patients to alternative care where appropriate.

To help manage the early morning demand, the centre has introduced a call system where those who ring are told where they are in the queue.

Angela Hiscock has worked at the practice for fifteen years and says her role is busier than it has ever been.

She explained: "We could come into thirty people waiting in a queue and we just never stop."Ms Hiscock continued: "We get a lot of irate patients, obviously they're frustrated, want to be seen that day you know, they're very demanding."

Soon after 10am, and receptionists had taken 97 calls from patients, including 46 requesting urgent assistance.

On the morning we filmed, Dr Haines was "on-call", meaning that she was responding to patients needing same-day assistance - including face-to-face and telephone appointments as well as home visits as and when required.

She told us that before surgery opening time, she had spent time signing prescriptions, checking blood and urine test results and going through online consultation forms submitted by patients.

She said: "It's quite an anxiety provoking time of the day because you just have no idea what the day's going to bring.

"You have no idea what emergencies are going to crop up, how many patients are going to phone so you know that really between now and - we're open til eight o'clock tonight -anything can happen."

Glenpark Medical Practice - in numbers

In March 2024

- the practice offered 5,309 appointments

- answered 4,442 phone calls

In May 2024

- the practice took 6,775 phone calls

- 800+ calls were taken by a single receptionist during the month

Source: Glenpark Medical Practice & NHS General Practice Appointment Data

Dr Haines and her colleagues are well aware of frustrations among those patients who believe appointments are difficult to come by.

This was a feeling reflected by one man we spoke to as he waited for his consultation.

By contrast, another patient told us she had always been treated promptly and the NHS was "working very well" for her.

While the pressures facing healthcare are well documented, what are the potential solutions - for people right across our region?

Danielle Jefferies is a senior analyst for an independent health think tank, The King's Fund.

She told ITV Tyne Tees that people in more deprived parts of the North East may struggle more than most to access care.

She points to the fact that patients in these areas often have more complex health needs - with too little available capacity to meet them.

With a general election just a fortnight away, Ms Jefferies has this assessment for the incoming government, whatever their political persuasion.She said: "One of the biggest priorities for the NHS and the future government is to move more focus into community care, care that is closer to people's homes."

Ms Jefferies continued: "For example, that's about increasing access to general practice, to pharmacies, to district nurses - the type of care that people receive that's often preventive and better for patients."

When Glenpark Medical Practice was founded in 1905 it would have been impossible to predict the future demands on the health system.

Current GP Dr Becky Haines is keen to see more money for GP practices, after what she argues is a period of underfunding.

Only then, she says, will teams like hers be able to strengthen their role in helping to prevent people becoming ill in the first place.

By the end of the day that we filmed at Glenpark Medical Practice, the team took a total of 193 phone calls, with 81 requests for a same-day medical appointment.

According to Dr Haines, this was a "steady" rather than a busy day.

Tomorrow, the process starts again.

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