The resilient general practice: working as a pack

The first rule of covering a hurricane? Get footage of palm trees bending to the storm. They sway, arch, bow through 50 degrees, then rebound like elastic to recover their form and position. Cars and pylons cartwheel and buckle in the tempest. But with its heavy root network, its trunk a cable of bundled fibre and fronded leaves that fold up, the canny, durable palm has worked out how to ride a storm by flexing, without falling over. Resilience has attained treasured status in general practice’s belief system since our specialty’s popularity, resourcing, and recruitment began to head south, along with the banks, after 2008. Like an advanced stage of enlightenment, it has become the key attribute for anyone wanting to survive and thrive as a GP in today’s harsh NHS environment.1 That GPs work hard and long, in tough conditions, mostly alone with their patients; that they are exposed to distress and tragedy through their working lives; that they carry formidable responsibilities, and hold unbearable secrets, is not news. Being resolute, courageous, of a calm temperament, committed, able to go without sleep, face abuse and the threat of violence, yet remain open minded and kind — all these are taken as read in a good GP; and that’s before you get on to being up to date, a patient listener, and a smart decision maker. Bags of emotional intelligence and great interpersonal skills make up the full kit list. We embrace the description ‘resilient’ as a sex- and judgement-free upgrade from some of its heroic predecessors: robust, …