In the Guardian today:
GPs in England have voted in favour of taking limited forms of industrial action to protest against the government’s drive to force them to see patients face to face.
The results led the profession’s new leader to warn ministers that “demoralised, broken and exhausted” family doctors may refuse to undertake some normal duties to show their anger.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/25/gps-in-england-vote-in-favour-of-industrial-action
Why only BMA England? Surely Scotland’s doctors are exhausted too? Their shop steward or ‘chief’, Lewis Morrison is often on the BBC telling us they are, based on no survey or not much of a survey:
Could this from 2019 be the reason?
Scotland has 26% more fully-trained GPs.
Or this from 2015:
Scottish GPs are the most satisfied with practising medicine:
Scotland – 80%
England – 65%
Wales – 67%
Northern Ireland – 71%
Fewer Scottish GPs work excessive hours than those in the rest of the UK (percentages):
England Scotland Wales N Ireland
1-34 22 15 20 20
35-44 29 34 33 34
44-54 28 39 32 28
50 or over 21 12 15 19
Scottish doctors are the least stressed in the UK (percentages)
England Scotland Wales N Ireland
Extremely 19 7 18 15
Very 43 25 37 27
Somewhat 34 57 36 47
Not too 3 11 8 10
Not at all 1 0 1 0
The above come from a rigorous academic study carried out by professional researchers, not interested parties like the BBC, BMA or RCGP, at the Commonwealth Institute (USA): http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/in-the-literature/2015/dec/primary-care-physicians-in-ten-countries
Talking-up Scotland: 'The Only SNP Apologist Standing!' 
I spoke with 3 GPS recently at a social event. All 3 working in diverse practices in West of Scotland. All were happy to go back to seeing patients face to face, echoing what my own GP said when I saw him face to face 2 months ago! The 2nd time I have seen him since 2020.
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Re. Industrial action – perhaps Lewis Morrison is waiting for a second opinion ?
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I have seen my GP twice this year also. No problem. They do interviews by phone also but are happy to do face to face. Even last year.
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ALL NHS staff are exhausted having had to deal with Covid north and south, be they an administrator, a cleaner, an orderly, an auxiliary, a nurse, a staff nurse, an anaesthetist or a doctor – A pandemic is not exactly what they had in mind when embarking in a career in medicine, yet instead of gratitude for what they’ve accomplished they’ve become a political football.
It is only the degree of overload which varies from north to south, and the media in Scotland have gone to extreme lengths to avoid that comparative lest it inadvertently demonstrate Scotland’s better grip on the problem rather than the vra-vra room, woosh, visit Peppa Pig solutions from the Prime Charlatan.
The much publicised departure of senior experts from Scotland’s NHS was yet another damp squib from Lewis Morrison amplified by the BBC in Scotland, hitting the unintended mark of “So ?”.
The logic was obvious by dint of relative population, England with all it’s other calamitous privatisation decisions re the NHS, has to be suffering a problem magnitudes higher, hence Lewis Morrison’s damp squib, or wet squirrel.
Yet let’s not kid ourselves over what once was, the Grauniad’s veneer of speaking for the entirety of the UQ peeled off years ago leaving only cheap chipboard in it’s place.
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