Our doctors at the surgery continue to work tirelessly to provide high-quality care to all patients, despite ongoing difficulties.
- Balancing immediate care for short-term problems (eg coughs sore throats, muscle pains) with the management of chronic long-term conditions (eg Heart disease, asthma, diabetes and cancer care) is a significant challenge for our team of doctors and nurses.
- The Dorset District Nurses who are contracted to cover our community care patients in Wiltshire Hampshire and Dorset, have a significant reduction in staff numbers since the Covid pandemic. This has meant a significant decrease in services they offer. Recruiting trained district nurses is very difficult now.
- Recruitment problems are critically affecting the NHS, especially our practice. Despite advertising for a new partner, to replace Dr Taubman before she retired in June 2022, we have seen very few applications and no one who wished to take up the role. The same has happened with specialist nurses in asthma and diabetes.
- We have experienced the loss of some key staff members due to retirement or other opportunities, but we remain hopeful in attracting new talent to our practice. Dr Gallagher moved back recently to his original GP training practice in Mere instead of joining our team, and we bid him farewell.
In reality no one wishes to join general practice currently due to fears for the future of the service, the lack of funding from NHS England and the pressures working in the role.
- Dr Hawdon, Dr Morgan, and Dr Macpherson, our remaining doctors, are adapting to the new pressures in General practice trying to maintain a high level of care, but this means working long hours and prioritising care to essential work and giving less time for preventative and supportive care.
- We have no capacity to increase services available at Broad Chalke for the foreseeable future, due to existing constraints
- Wea re so grateful to the support we have received from our patients and ask you to please keep supporting us in these difficult time
We will keep you updated on any new developments.