Winter pressures, falling locum pay, how one area transformed its patient per GP ratio

The GPonline team talks about some of the challenges the NHS could face this winter and what all this means for general practice.

They also look at how the GP jobs crisis is affecting locum GPs - and discuss some worrying signs that the lack of detail on any support practices are likely to receive on employer’s national insurance is having a devastating impact on some practices.

And they talk about whether GPs in Wales and Scotland could be following their English counterparts and launching some form of industrial action in the push for a better GP contract.

This week’s good news story is about an ICB area in England that is bucking the trend and has seen a big fall in the number of patients per GP over the past two years and what they’ve done to achieve this.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower, deputy editor Nick Bostock and senior news reporter Kimberley Hackett. It was produced by Czarina Deen.