BMA likens GPs to pandas in 'hysterical' campaign warning of extinction dangers

According to the campaign, “invasive competition” from other healthcare professionals, combined with “habitat loss” caused by crumbling surgery buildings and the “pollution” of bureaucracy, has pushed general practice to the brink.

Patient groups accused the BMA of melodrama, arguing the comparison was out of touch with the daily reality faced by those trying to access appointments.

One campaigner said GPs were less like pandas and more like “timid mice who scurry away whenever you try to book an appointment”.

The row comes after the Government announced that from April GP practices will be required to offer same-day consultations for patients with “urgent” medical needs under a new NHS contract.

BMA leaders reacted angrily to the announcement and confirmed they would ballot members on whether to accept the new terms, reports the Daily Mail.

They warned that widespread opposition among doctors could trigger industrial action, adding to existing pressures across the health service.

In a “bitesize briefing” circulated to members, the BMA said a shrinking number of full-time equivalent GPs were now responsible for a growing patient population.

It also highlighted a collapse in the number of doctors willing to become GP partners, who own and manage practices and shoulder greater financial and administrative risk.

“General practice is critically endangered, facing extinction,” the briefing stated.

It added: “Government must bring it back from the brink. We can turn this round.”

Drawing a direct comparison with wildlife conservation, the document noted that the giant panda had been removed from the World Wildlife Fund’s critically endangered list after successful breeding programmes.

“We need to secure partnerships and drive-up partner numbers as a priority to stabilise our profession in the same way,” the BMA said.

Insisting it was not exaggerating, the union claimed: “This campaign is not alarmist. It is precautionary. General practice remains the most cost-effective part of the NHS.”

The five-page leaflet warned that extinction can occur when a species “can no longer survive or be sustained in its environment”.

It said: “It can happen gradually, or it can happen suddenly.”.

Dennis Reed, director of the elderly campaign group Silver Voices, dismissed the language as “over-egging the pudding and rather hysterical”.

He said: “Drawing comparisons between GPs and pandas is bizarre..

“The reality is that there are GPs out there, but patients struggle to find them because they are often a species in hiding.

“They are more like timid mice that scurry away whenever you try to book an appointment.”

He revealed that elderly patients frequently report being pushed “to the back of the queue” because their complex conditions could not be dealt with quickly.

Mr Reed said: “The government is quite right to insist patients with urgent medical needs are seen the same day, and the BMA will not endear itself to the public by opposing it.”

Nearly half of adults delayed or avoided contacting their GP last year, according to polling by the Health Foundation, with many citing difficulties securing appointments.

The new contract will also see practices paid millions in bonuses for prescribing weight-loss injections and boosting childhood vaccination rates.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Through this government’s investment and modernisation, we’re fixing the front door to the NHS and giving practices the flexibility and funding to hire more GPs.”