Government in dispute with another part of the NHS

Just as the government was congratulating itself on, it hopes, ending the junior doctors’ strike, it’s in dispute with another part of the health service. GPs say they have been driven to desperation.

This time it’s a bit different though.

It’s not a strike but a work-to-rule action, which means GPs will still be going to work, but will stop doing tasks they are not formally contracted to do

They have a suite of options to choose from – one is only seeing 25 patients a day. Their union, the BMA, says that’s the limit of what is safe anyway but often they see 30-40, sometimes even more.

Another is refusing to share data or switching off software.

This is a blow to Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Today he announced funding to help surgeries hire 1,000 more GPs in England. But it doesn’t look like that was enough.

This all comes down to the lump sum he’s offered practices to fund themselves and to pay salaries, but GPs say that they’re having to do so much more with less that it’s become unsafe.

The action began today and could go on indefinitely because unlike strike rules, it doesn’t have an official end.