Sheffield hospitals deny 'money-saving' claim over GP cuts

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals provides the out-of-hours GP service for patients in the community at evenings and weekends, which had faced ‘unprecedented demand’ at the height of the coronavirus outbreak.

The number of shifts has been reduced due to a fall in demand, but one doctor is unhappy about how staff have been treated and claims the move is ‘short-sighted’ since demand will inevitably ‘surge’ as lockdown restrictions are eased.

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That GP, who asked to remain anonymous, said they and their colleagues had worked ‘exceptionally hard’ in recent weeks but when demand fell shifts were cancelled at short notice.

“This is a money saving exercise and has shown no respect for the hard working staff of the GP out of hours service. This is also very short sighted as the demand will surge again in the coming months as lockdown is eased. The same GPs will be asked to work again,” said the GP.

They added: “In my opinion the approach by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals has put patient care in jeopardy and destroyed the morale of the staff to save some money. Money which is available from the Government.”

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The worker also claimed staff had been working without the correct PPE (personal protective equipment), but the hospitals trust insisted everyone had been given the appropriate PPE to wear.

Dr David Hughes, medical director at the trust, said: “We have reduced the number of shifts in the GP collaborative but this is nothing to do with finance it is because the number of patients requiring care has thankfully now reduced. We are carefully monitoring this and if we get an increase in demand we will of course respond accordingly.

“No GP shifts have been cancelled with less than two weeks’ notice unless the GP volunteered to stand down, and any shifts stood down without GPs volunteering have been given two weeks-plus notice, which is the same period of notice that we ask GPs cancelling their shifts to give to us.

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“We are not expecting any booked shifts for the foreseeable future to be needed to be stood down.”