Since the very beginning of the NHS, GP surgeries have been, in effect, businesses with contracts to do the work the Health Service needs. But in recent decades, patient numbers have grown, surgeries have become larger and the services offered more varied. Many GP surgeries now employ administrative staff, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics, as well as doctors.
What's it like to be a clinician and run a small business at the same time? What are the pressures? How do you get the books to balance? And how do you attract more people to join one of the front lines of the NHS? Evan Davis and guests discuss.
GUESTS \nDr. John Lynch, GP Partner, Framfield House Surgery, Woodbridge Suffolk \nDr. Matt Noble, GP Partner, GP@hand, Bablyon Health a 'digital first' practice\nDr. Yazmin Razak, Single GP practitioner, North Kensington \nand Dr. Rebecca Rosen, Senior Fellow, Health Policy at the Nuffield Trust and part-time GP, South London
Producers: Julie Ball and Kirsteen Knight\nResearcher: Louise Byrne\nSound Engineers: Graham Puddifoot and Rod Farquhar\nEditor: Simon Watts