17 November 2022: Mulholland - B

There were only a few questions from core participants;

On the proposals to carry out testing in GP surgeries; he said there would be a workforce and resource issue.

On the potential value of GPs receiving specific training on infected blood; he said it was difficult because there are so many health conditions that might be useful for GPs to receive training in. It was not possible to be an expert in everything.

On there being a perception that look-back had been done and so was not worth doing again; he said there are still patients coming forward, and yes, the previous look-back was not as effective as it could have been.

The Chair asked about CPD, and in particular the option of a GP going to a commercial source. The Chair recognised that some online providers, for example, may not be of a high quality. There is no activity by the College to validate external providers per se. There are some very high quality private providers which use the standards from NICE. If a provider wants the College to endorse their course, that can be arranged.

The Chair then asked about the references to the stresses being placed on GPs by workload and wondered about any resilience and wellbeing courses. There are courses, but that itself takes up more time out of their pressured time. The numbers of GPs are going down while the demands are going up.

The Chair asked about the voluntary roles within the College. The witness used to be one of them, but now receives a payment. He felt that the pressures were not impacting on the quality of the volunteers coming forward. People see it as part of their professional development.

The Chair asked about the issue of discharge summaries not recording blood transfusions and so what information is getting to GPs. The witness confirmed from his own experience that blood transfusions do not appear to be routinely recorded and passed to GPs.

The witness had a prepared statement to express sympathy on behalf of the College to everyone impacted by contaminated blood and their families. “Lessons must be learnt from the experience and the College will play our part in preventing anything similar happening in the future.”

The Chair thanked the witness for the statement and his evidence, particularly in light of how busy a GP role is.

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