FIONA O'Donoghue is one of the growing number of GPs leaving partnerships behind.
After 25 years as a GP partner in the Govanhill area of Glasgow, she resigned earlier this year and is now working as a locum in the city as well as doing one half-day each week in private practice at a menopause clinic.
"After Covid, things just became very difficult," said O'Donoghue.
"I was working harder than ever but I wasn't able to do the job in the way that I wanted.
"You've got 10 minute appointments and 20 per cent of our patients were non-English speaking, so you've got a lot of interpreter consultations with complex medical problems, social problems, deprivation, and giving care in that time is very, very difficult.
"I was just feeling stressed and not enjoying it, so I thought 'I'll just relinquish my partnership and do some GP locuming'.
"It's not been an easy decision - it's sad and disappointing in a way - but I probably have another five to 10 years maximum to go, and I just couldn't see things improving."
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Locums are in high demand, and O'Donghue has already been snapped up to fill several long-term vacancies.
"I've got set days where I know I'm going to be in particular practices within the Glasgow area, and there's something nice about just going in and dealing with the patient in front of you and their problems without all the admin and practice politics
"I'm lucky to be in a position where I can do that, to get a better work-life balance towards the end of my career.
"But if everybody started to do that, [the independent contractor model] wouldn't work.
"It's probably going to get worse before it gets better - we're heading into winter, patient demand is huge."
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