Is There a Doctor in Our House?
Professor Joe Goldblatt
The small paper cut on my index finger continued to burn and soon turned blue. I remembered reading about the dangers of sepsis in the newspaper and decided to pop into my local GP’s office at 6pm on a Friday afternoon to make an appointment to be seen the following week.
The receptionist was closing up for day and she said I would need to return the following week to make an appointment to see the doctor. As my slightly swollen finger grasped the door knob I heard a wee voice call out from the rear of the office saying “I will see him now.” The receptionist put on her coat to start her weekend and waved me through to the doctor’s examining room as she left the office.
Upon meeting for the first time the doctor, the questions asked by this junior doctor were so thorough that I thought I had a terminal disease!
Finally, she wrinkled her young brow and prescribed a antiseptic cream and applied a plaster upon my finger. I looked at my watch and realised that it was now nearly 7pm and the doctor was all alone in the office so I asked if she she would like me to wait for her to lock up. She declined and said she still had some work to do.
I asked her what time she had started work that day and she said “7am” and when I asked her what time she planned to finish she replied “9pm”.
After I slipped on my overcoat I noticed it was beginning to snow heavily and the young doctor soon followed me out the front door and locked up. I told her she must be looking forward to going home to her family and as she carefully climbed into her car whilst carrying her little black bag she rolled down the window and said “Actually, I still have patients to see. Five home visits.” Then I suddenly realised that is why her day would continue until 9pm.
I shook my head from side to side in sympathy and said “I bet that when you were in medical school your tutors did not tell you about 14 hour days and visiting patients at home and in the snow.”
She looked up at me and with a slight smile said “It is an honour and a privilege.”
Suddenly my heart rose in admiration, my finger stopped throbbing, and I felt a surge of warmth due to the personal values this junior doctor shared with me on this cold winter night.
In my view the NHS Scotland may be about to experience a cold winter more severe than any in our past within our patients and doctors may experience greater pressure than ever before.
According to a 2023 study by the University of Dundee, over 50% of NHS Scotland doctors plan to retire before their statutory reirement age (currently 57 and rising to 58 in 2028). There are a wide variety of resons for their decision to take early retiral which include the financial penalties associated with the current pension scheme, Organisational disillusionment was the second leading motivation for the early retiral plans of the 1700 respondents.
Therefore, I wonder if the Scottish government tuition potential fee investment total of £58,000 for four to six years of study per doctor should be partially repayable / refundable to the tax payers calculated on a sliding scale measured by years of service by doctors if they choose to leave the NHS early?
I wonder if this potential penalty would perhaps encourage them to re – think their decision? Furthermore, perhaps several carrots could also be considered to provide signifigant financial and hygeine rewards including more annual leave for experienced doctors to encourage them to remain in service to NHS Scotland?
The current top salary for a GP in Scotland ranges from $76,028 to £114,743. Perhaps this top salary could be revisited by the newly elected Scottish government to further insure that the best and brightest of our doctors remain in post as long as possible?
It is my hope that one day another patient visiting a Scottish NHS GP as I did those many years ago will witness the same or even greater feeling of pride, honour, and privilege at the end of a long day of seeing patients?
For this to happen our new government leaders must carefully examine the current NHS remuneration scheme and treat our medical experts with more carrots as well as perhaps a few sticks to encourage them to recognise their value and perhaps choose to remain in service so that we may benefit for a long time to come from their extraordinary skill and priceless experience.
Professor Joe Goldblatt is Emeritus Professor of Planned Events at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland.
His views are his own. For more information about his views visit www.joegoldblatt.scot