A GP is working as an Uber driver after failing to find a job as a family doctor despite surgeries forcing patients to wait weeks for an appointment.
The doctor is a UK medical graduate who qualified as a GP two years ago but has struggled to secure work as a locum or salaried GP.
It is understood they considered working in a hospital but decided they could earn as much driving passengers as treating patients – with less stress, less risk and more control over working hours.
A colleague told GP Online that the GP had been working as a taxi driver in the Midlands for the past two or three months and they were ‘not sure they would return to clinical practice’.
It comes amid growing reports that jobs for doctors in general practice have dried up because surgeries cannot afford to employ them and receptionists are encouraging patients to see other healthcare workers, who are cheaper to employ.
There are growing reports that jobs for doctors in general practice have dried up because surgeries cannot afford to employ them (stock image)
It is understood the GP considered working in a hospital but decided they could earn as much driving passengers as treating patients – with less stress, less risk and more control over working hours
The Mail reported today how patients with cancer symptoms are delaying seeking care because of the difficulties they face securing GP appointments.
Practices have received £1.4billion of ring-fenced funding that can be spent on employing more staff, such as pharmacists, physician associates and paramedics – but not GPs or nurses.
The funding, known as the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS), has brought more than 30,000 staff into general practice but doctors claim it has also led to more expensive doctors being squeezed out.
At least one surgery in Surrey has announced it is making a number of its GPs redundant because of ‘new ways of working’ that would allow patients to see members of the ‘wider team’.
Only 46 per cent of general practice appointments in England were with a GP in January, the latest month for which official NHS statistics are available.
Furthermore, patients had to wait over a week for more than a quarter (27.9 per cent) of all appointments.
GPs earn an average of £118,100 a year, with those who own their own practice typically earning £153,400, according to NHS Digital.
The GP who knows the Uber driver said: ‘When we went into GP training, stability was the main selling point.
‘I have colleagues who work in hospitals and they have often moved around the country – but they signed up for that.
‘GPs were told that where you train, generally you will end up working there. It seems like the rug has been swept from under us.
‘GPs who have just completed training are now finding it so hard. My heart goes out to them. They are really stuck.
‘There are enough GPs out there, but practices have their hands tied with ARRS funding.’
Polling by GPonline earlier this year found that more than half of locum GPs had struggled to find work in the past 12 months, with many seeing their income drop.
Doctors have also told the site that locums desperate for work are cold-calling GP practices and offering to work at rates ‘last seen years ago’.
Meanwhile, another GP unable to find work was reportedly forced to turn to a food bank for support.
The British Medical Association and the Doctors Association UK have linked the shortfall in GP jobs on ARRS.
Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of the BMA’s GP committee, said a GP driving a taxi to earn a living was ‘extraordinary’.
She said ARRS staff had helped deliver 50m extra appointments in general practice promised by the government – but that instead of improving patient outcomes, ‘we’ve got evidence it’s widening health deprivation indices and concern from patients that they’re having to see multiple people before they actually get to a diagnosis’.
She added: ‘From our perspective, we’re hearing about GPs facing unemployment and underemployment, newly qualified GPs having to take additional work, examples given to me by some practice managers in Manchester at the weekend of Uber drivers.
‘Now, this is the reality. Extraordinary. And why would you not want to use existing ringfenced budgets from the Treasury to employ qualified GPs that the taxpayer has invested billions of pounds in training? This isn’t logical.’
The BMA has previously said thousands of GPs are currently ‘underemployed’.
Dr Steve Taylor, GP spokesman at DAUK, said there was growing evidence of GPs struggling to find work.
He said: ’There are increasing reports of doctors not getting the work they want.
‘I did a little poll recently – at least 50 per cent of GPs were struggling to get the work they wanted.
‘Some were locums not getting as much work as they wanted, some were partners not getting the hours they wanted, and some salaried. In summary it’s a lack of funding within core GP services.’
He said GPs were increasingly taking shifts in roles outside general practice – in urgent treatment centres and A&E. ‘It’s ridiculous. I was getting emails daily offering locum work last year – but I’ve not had a single email for four months.’
