In an ethics debate at the annual conference in Liverpool on Thursday, former GPC chairman Dr Laurence Buckman was successful in arguing that there were other ways.
A vote taken before the debate on: ‘This house believes that part-time working is the only way for GPs to maintain their personal resilience’ was won 130-36.
However, Dr Buckman successfully overturned that by 97-68 in a vote taken at the end of the hour-long debate.
Dr Buckman argued: ‘Resilience is about resisting what the employment structure we have does to us. Many of us feel that we are drowning in things that have nothing to do with direct patient care.’
South Yorkshire and former chairman of the BMA’s trainees subcommittee Dr Krishna Kasareneni agreed. ‘If you start saying no, people will accept it.’
The argument was lost by GP and writer Dr Margaret McCartney. She argued that part-time GPs should be celebrated and that the NHS would collapse without them.
