Where are all our young GPs?

Glad to see that the issue of the very real prospect of a GP shortage in South Wales is getting some attention. Dr David Bailey, Chairman of our GP committee is highlighting the problem in the South Wales Echo as new figures show that most doctors here are now aged 60 or over, without younger ones coming through to replace them.

This seems to suggest that young medics are choosing not become a GP and perhaps some work needs to be undertaken to look at why this is. After all, it should be seen as a very attractive career option, what with being your own boss, being able to make decisions about patient care on the spot and having a direct and important link with the community you serve.

Perhaps what’s even more worrying still is the fact that, hearing from some medical students yesterday, it seems in years to come, this situation is likely to worsen, as many youngsters are being put off considering medicine as a viable career option at all, because of the increasing cost of training to be a doctor. But I think that’s a whole new topic for discussion on here in more detail another time! Or maybe some medical students reading this maybe might want to comment on here about how finance can be a barrier to entering the medical profession.