TY - JOUR T1 - General practice in crisis: stop skinning the cat JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract DO - 10.3399/bjgp21X716153 SP - bjgp21X716153 AU - Clare Gerada Y1 - 2021/05/27 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/early/2021/06/02/bjgp21X716153.abstract N2 - What a grim time GPs in England are having. I have never seen things so bad. As Medical Director of NHS Practitioner Health (https://www.practitionerhealth.nhs.uk/) I am aware of how my profession is suffering under the strain of their work.1 But more, rather than being lauded GPs have been reprimanded, unjustly, for not being ‘open’. This hurts. General practice is open. Our doors are so widely open that you can drive a coach and horses through them. GPs are delivering 1 million more consultations per week of all kinds (face-to-face, telephone, home visits, video, and electronic triage) than before the pandemic.2 GPs have moved mountains to help our patients; transferred millions of consultations per day to the virtual space; created hot and cold hubs to make life safer for staff and patients; led the delivery of the highly successful vaccine programme (90% of all 50 million or so doses) to name a few of our achievements over the last 18 months. Done with many of our staff on sick leave or shielding.I have now passed my 31st year working in general practice and given this longevity am able to look back, not with rose coloured spectacles, which is always a risk, but with a realistic view as to what has worked, what is not working, and most importantly what needs to be done going forward.Lest we forget, GPs across the NHS do more than our equivalents across the world. We are the front door of the health system, dealing with undifferentiated illness. We keep the NHS safe, accessible, and value for money.3The ideas I bring in this editorial are not new. Every one of them has been a focus of discussions, reports, and recommendations during my professional lifetime. Now is the time to put them … ER -