Doctor gets text from 'stranger' minutes before shift ends saying his 24 years with NHS are over

An NHS GP was devastated to receive a text from a stranger to inform him his services were no longer needed.

Dr John Cosgrove, 49, got no clarity from bosses after reading the message and, it was only after sharing his sadness on Twitter, now X, when he received an apology. He posted: "Does my 24 year NHS career really just fizzle out with a text message from a stranger 15 minutes before the end of a shift?" More than four million people have seen the message.

But the medic believes his 24-year career with the NHS is over forever and he'll have to undertake full-time private medicine. Dr Cosgrove, from Formby, Merseyside, says the job market for NHS GPs is currently bleak because of "successive governments' failure to address the "staffing crisis".

"Many of us have been warning about a crisis of GP staffing for many years, and successive governments have failed to address that properly. It’s now clear that there’s not enough GPs to meet demand, so understandably they’ve had to find other solutions, namely introducing other clinicians into primary care to replace GPs," Dr Cosgrove today told the Mirror.

The GP had, for the past 18 months, been working in a locum capacity covering intermediate care in nursing homes in Southport, Merseyside, subcontracted to a local NHS practice. It allowed Dr Cosgrove to continue work with the NHS, alongside setting up his own private practice

But when the NHS surgery lost this contract, it was taken over by an organisation called Primary Care 24 at the start of this month. HR recommended Dr Cosgrove take a bank contract to match his pay and continue his private work but, after just his third shift under the new regime, he received the devastating text.

The doctor continued: "HR recommended that I accept a bank contract from them so they could match my pay. I’m aware that the cost of that was job security, and that was fine. But my surprise was that despite going through that process of onboarding, I was sent the text message on my third shift with them.

"I did email my line manager and her superior in my current team for clarification but received no response until later that evening. After I posted my tweet, it got some traction and was noticed by one of the directors of pc24, who rang me to apologise for the manner of the communication.

"The reason why I feel this has ended my NHS career is firstly because my private practice is growing, and secondly, because the job market is quite tricky at the moment for GPs."

Despite recent changes Dr Cosgrove has seen the NHS introduce to try to retain staff, he believes the moves are too late to solve the crippling staffing crisis. The Mirror told last year GP numbers continued to fall in England as burnt-out senior doctors quit or cut their hours. Despite repeated Tory promises to drastically increase the workforce, full-time GPs dropped year-on-year for 12 months in a row.

GPs warn primary care is being “pushed closer towards the precipice” as patients find it harder to see their family doctor. NHS Digital figures show there were 26,521 fully qualified full-time-equivalent (FTE) GPs in June 2023, down 1.3% from 26,859 in June 2022.

Dr Cosgrove added: "I think the medical profession has woken up to this reality a bit too late. I acknowledge I had no grounds to accept job security at all, I’m not suggesting any breach of contract or anything. My fear is that because of the current job market for GPs, I fear it might be difficult to find further locum work within the NHS, and so I fear my NHS career ends here."

Primary Care 24, a social enterprise delivering NHS healthcare across Merseyside, told The Mirror: "We are aware of a recent post on X concerning a text message sent from PC24 to a GP.

"Our Medical Director spoke directly with Dr Cosgrove yesterday and apologised for the way in which the information was communicated to him, which has been addressed internally.

"The temporary role in question has now been filled by a salaried clinician, however Dr Cosgrove remains employed as Bank GP with the organisation and can choose to avail of clinical shifts within the NHS as he wishes."