Rebuild General Practice: April newsletter
2024-04-30
Hello all,
Welcome to the April 2024 edition of the Rebuild General Practice newsletter.
Below, you can catch up on what the campaign has been up to over the last month and get a flavour of what’s to come, including some exciting activations in the pipeline for the month of May.
Please circulate this with colleagues and let them know that if they’d like to sign up to our mailing list, just drop a line to hello@rebuildgp.co.uk.
All the best,
The Rebuild GP team
![[HEADING] NHS won't survive without properly functioning general practice, medics warn. [SUB-HEADING] It comes amid concerns doctors are leaving the workforce early, while students are unwilling to go into general practice.](https://bucket-reduildgp-a3.s3.amazonaws.com/attachments/cluvd3yyg6822f0ph5ul79m25-83d8f973-a354-ddf0-fa46-f767d76f68e0.full.png)
National media briefing
This month, we hosted a meeting briefing with journalists from top-tier national press in England, Scotland and Wales. The purpose? To convey the reality and pressures in general practice directly to journalists.
The event was well attended by journalists from almost every major national publication who heard our message loud and clear: ‘NHS won’t survive without properly functioning general practice, medics warn’ (PA Media).
Media coverage following the event, in a host of national, trade and regional outlets, highlighted urgency and placed responsibility on government. A front page and incredible two-page spread in the Daily Record, one of Scotland’s most-read papers, evidenced general practice high on the agenda in Scotland.
Many thanks to Dr Rachel Ward, Dr Mohit Mandiratta, and Dr Ian Harris, and well as patient representative from Silver Voices, Dennis Reed, for their time and excellent contributions.
Meetings with MPs
This month has seen new MPs engaged and continued impact from meetings between GPs and politicians earlier this year.
April highlights:
Positive engagement between Derby & Derbyshire LMC and Pauline Latham MP, via a meeting in her constituency of Mid Derbyshire. Whilst Pauline is stepping down in the next election, she was impressed by the campaign and has passed on our details to the next office holder.
From the grassroots to Westminster – sustained impact from a meeting of Gloucestershire GPs with local MPs in March. Congratulations to Gloucestershire LMC and its local GPs for successfully briefing their MPs to raise general practice issues with Health Secretary Victoria Atkins at a meeting in parliament.
Rebuild General Practice continues to ramp up the political pressure in the run up to the general election. If you have opportunities with local MPs or ideas to influence government, we’d love to support you.
Patient engagement
The Rebuild General Practice patient engagement toolkit has been helping GPs all over Great Britain to talk to their patients about the crisis in general practice and ask for their support to put pressure on government.
April highlights:
Surgeries across Great Britain using the patient engagement animation on waiting room screens. We’d love to receive photos or videos of the animation being shown in your surgery – please send them to hello@rebuildgp.co.uk or via WhatsApp on +44 7796 619223.
Dr Will Denby speaking directly to patients at a Westbourne Parish Council meeting about the pressures in general practice. In a letter of thanks the council said that it would “continue to encourage residents to raise issues with their MP to ask for improvements to be made”.
Continued engagement with patient group Silver Voices. This month we gave an update to their members encouraging continued collaboration with the campaign showing GPs and patients are on the same side.
Grassroots GPs in the press
The campaign continues to influence media narratives about general practice, both behind the scenes by briefing key journalists, and publicly by ensuring GP voices are driving media reports. Our aim is always to shine a light on the reality of general practice and position GPs and patients on the same side.
April highlights:
National coverage in The Telegraph, with Dr Paul Evans featuring in a case study piece on appointment waits. The outcome was a balanced article in an often hostile outlet, on the reasons behind increased waiting times, positioning Paul as a Rebuild GP spokesperson throughout.
An investigation into the rise of private general practice in Scotland by The Herald, with Dr Nóra Murray-Cavanagh highlighting government neglect to NHS general practice and the risk of growing health inequalities.
Please reach out to us if you require briefing material, support or advice in advance of a press opportunity – we’re always happy to help!
Action you can take in April 2024
Coming soon: Open letter to party leaders
If you have time to take one action this month, make it this!
We will very soon be launching an open letter to party leaders, urging them to put party politics aside and work together to address the urgent crisis facing general practice.
We want all LMCs to speak with one voice, with every LMC in England, Scotland and Wales signing the letter to send a powerful message to politicians.
Please look out for an email that will come in the coming days giving everything you need to sign the letter.
Patient engagement toolkit
Many of you are already using the Rebuild General Practice patient engagement toolkit – a collection of materials that will help GPs to convey the crisis in general practice to their patients. For those who haven’t yet accessed it, here’s everything you need…
Find all the materials on the Rebuild General Practice website:
🗣️ Ask your patients and/or friends to join Rebuild General Practice in calling on government to fix the crisis, using the templates in the toolkit (MP letter, social posts, etc.)
📺Display the patient engagement animation on the screens in your surgery to show patients the reality of the crisis and let them know how they can help.
🤳 Share our social media thread – and post your own:
🔁Encourage your constituent GPs and colleagues in general practice to do the same by sharing this WhatsApp and the materials with them.
Tell us your stories
Complete this short survey to help us tell your stories: here.
The Rebuild campaign is built around you and your experiences in general practice. We know that every surgery is different, and every GP has unique stories about the ups and downs of the profession.
That’s why we want to hear from you. We would love for you to tell us a selection of your experiences – positive and negative – so we can work with you in creating stories that cut through to media and to patients.
All the questions in the survey are optional - but the more we know, the more we can work with you to represent general practice as accurately as possible.
Get to know your local PPCs
Polls are predicting a big shake up at the upcoming general election – meaning MPs are not the only important voices we need to be influencing.
Political parties are currently selecting their election candidates, many of whom will likely soon take their seats in the House of Commons.
We’ve put together a comprehensive guide of the most competitive seats across England, Scotland, and Wales – so you can get ahead of the curve and capture the attention of PPCs before they become MPs inundated with new-MP duties.
You can access our PPC Map on the Rebuild General Practice website – which includes information on the most highly contested seats, the candidates, and contact details for you to get in touch.
Write to your MP, MSP, or MS
It’s not too late to write to your MP, asking them to support general practice as we enter the crucial general election period. We’ve seen the results, with MPs up and down the country meeting with the campaign and local GPs.
Everything you need – email templates, how to find your MP/MSP/MS, social media posts – is right here.
