stewartb
On the British Medical Association’s website, there is a brief article (28 February 2023) on a GP surgery in the Ayrshire town of Largs . I think it merits a bit of amplification btl here.
See https://www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opinion/services-are-in-crisis-and-there-s-a-finite-resource
‘GPs are working under greater pressure than ever before, but added to this is A TOXIC MEDIA CLIMATE and A RISING TIDE OF ABUSE FROM A MINORITY OF PATIENTS.’ (my emphasis)
The BMA piece notes: ‘The vast majority of healthcare in the town and its surrounds is delivered by Largs Medical Practice, which offers a wide array of services, thanks in part to the new Scottish GP contract, which was agreed in 2018, but still in the process of being implemented.
An then a description of services provided in this one practice: ‘This involves the presence of a multidisciplinary team, including a mental health practitioner, first-contact physiotherapist, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, and a community link worker. As well as its own nursing team, there is also access to district nursing, health visiting, and midwifery on site. These additional roles have largely been welcomed by the local population and demand is high, but not everybody is happy with services offered by the practice, and this takes a toll on GPs and staff.
“There’s an active local Facebook group which has been really quite difficult and challenging, particularly for our staff, who are on the front line,” says one of the GP partners.
Adding: “There still seems to be THIS NEGATIVE MEDIA RHETORIC that practices are not open, that your GP is “not working” and that’s completely not true. In fact it’s the absolute opposite.”
Another GP Partner has taken the decision to ‘cut his sessions in an attempt to preserve his mental health.’ “I’ve never worked as hard as I have in the last three years – it’s been relentless”, he says and adds “(I) consider myself a resilient person, and I’VE ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO IGNORE NEGATIVE MEDIA ATTENTION, BUT IT JUST STARTED TO GET TO ME. It’s not just the mainstream media, it’s the local Facebook group – it’s local, and it’s personal.’
Impacted by a ‘toxic media climate’ in Scotland concerning our NHS? Well that doesn’t come as any surprise!
Talking-up Scotland 
I expect that BBCScotlandshire and Lisa Summers will be all over this story of a media that relentlessly talks down and diminishes the great work of the Scottish NHS and will name and shame the worst culprits …. or maybe NOT !
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Much of that negative media is not just Scotland’s MSM but leakage from the hammering GPs are getting down south. People see the headlines in the ‘English’ papers, even if it is their so-called Scottish edition, in the newsagents and think it applies up here.
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