GPs ‘working as Uber drivers’ because they can’t find jobs as medics warn of ‘unprecedented crisis’

Published

1 month ago

February 27, 2025

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A lack of jobs is forcing GPs out of the NHS with some taking up work as Uber drivers to pay the bills, experts have told Sky News.

The “ridiculous” situation has been blamed on chronic underfunding and the rising costs of running a general practice – meaning there is not enough money to recruit.

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It comes at a time when demand for GP appointments is greater than ever, with medics fearing the situation will get worse once the rise in employers’ national insurance comes into effect in April, as GP surgeries are not exempt.

According to a new survey by the British Medical Association (BMA), one in five GPs in England are already planning a career change because they can’t find any or enough work.

The poll of 1,400 family doctors tallies with the findings of a survey by Dr Steve Taylor of 1,000 GPs, which found one third are either underemployed or out of work.

Dr Taylor, a Manchester-based GP of 30 years and a spokesperson for the Doctors Association, told Sky News he was aware of some newly qualified GPs working gig economy jobs like Uber drivers “as a fill in just to pay the bills”.

He said: “In simple terms practices haven’t had enough money to employ the new GPs that we are training, so there are doctors that are unemployed and a large proportion of GPs are under employed – so they are not working hours they’d want to work.”

He added that “four years ago that wouldn’t have been an issue”, with one applicant going for a salaried job at his practice back then – compared to 30 applicants competing for one job now.

Dr Taylor called the situation a “crisis” and said his “big worry” is that “will we end up with a two-tier system like dentistry”, with private providers sucking up out-of-work GPs.

‘Ridiculous GPs can’t find work’

The BMA’s survey said 47% of respondents were expecting to make changes to their career – with the most popular option being to take clinical jobs outside the NHS (43%).

Respondents also considered taking up GP opportunities abroad (40%) and leaving healthcare altogether (38%).

Dr Mark Steggles, chair of the BMA’s sessional GP committee, said: “At a time of immense pressure on the NHS, and patients waiting too long to be seen, it’s ridiculous that so many GPs can’t find work.

“These findings confirm our worst fears. Not only is the issue spreading through the profession, but it’s also leaving many wondering why they should bother staying in the NHS at all, further depriving patients of the vital care they need.”

What has the government done?

The survey comes after a study by the Health Foundation found access to a GP is the public’s top NHS concern – posing a potential headache for the government as it prioritises bringing down hospital waiting lists in its plan to fix the health service.

The government said in December it would give GPs an extra £889m to slash red tape and spend more time with patients.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has sought to address the recruitment problem by expanding the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) – a £1.4bn funding pot introduced in 2019 to hire non-GP roles, such as dieticians and social prescribers, across Primary Care Networks (PCNS).

PCNS are groups of GP practices, and last summer Mr Streeting announced £82m boost to the scheme so it could be expanded to GPs, in response to unemployment concerns.

But experts said it is not a long-term solution as it only applies to 1,000 newly qualified GPs on fixed-term contracts – making the roles hard to fill. The job also requires working across as many as 15 practices within one PCN, often at lower salaries as the reimbursement rate is at the bottom end of the GP pay scale.

The BMA said money for extra staff should go directly to GP practices and the amount should be increased, warning of a “mass exodus” if nothing is done.

Mr Steggles said there is a “real risk” of a huge increase of unemployment rates in August, when 4,000 new GP trainees will qualify.

The rise in employer NI could also exacerbate the situation, said Shropshire GP Jessica Harvey, who added practices are already being “squeezed” by the cost of living with no spare cash to recruit.

“It’s an unprecedented crisis,” she said. “There’s not enough GPs, we can’t afford more doctors, practices are closing, patients are suffering from chronic underfunding and to have NI placed on top of that is causing an incredible amount of unnecessary stress.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This government inherited a ludicrous situation where patients can’t get a GP, yet qualified GPs couldn’t get a job.

“We acted immediately to cut red tape and have already proposed the biggest boost to GP funding in years – an extra £889m.

“We are committed to recruiting an extra 1,000 GPs as promised.”

Politics

Stablecoins are the best way to ensure US dollar dominance — Web3 CEO

Published

3 hours ago

April 6, 2025

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Stablecoins are the best way to ensure US dollar dominance — Web3 CEO

Stablecoins are the single best tool for the United States government to maintain the US dollar’s hegemony in global financial markets, according to LayerZero Labs CEO and founder Bryan Pellegrino.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, the CEO of LayerZero Labs, which created the LayerZero interoperability protocol recently chosen by Wyoming to be the distribution partner for the Wyoming stablecoin, said that the cross-border accessibility of dollar-pegged tokens makes them an obvious choice to drive US dollar demand. Pellegrino added:

“Stablecoins for the US dollar are the single best tool — the last Trojan Horse or vampire attack on every single other currency in the world — whether it is Argentina, whether it is Venezuela, whether it is all of the countries that have massive inflation.”

The CEO said he expects support for stablecoins on both the federal and state levels to grow because of the obvious boost stablecoins give to the US dollar in foreign exchange markets and the financial moat stablecoin-driven demand will create around the US dollar’s global reserve currency status.

Dollar, US Government, Stablecoin — *Stablecoin market overview. Source:* *RWA.XYZ*

US government looks to stablecoins to protect US dollar

Pellegrino cited Tether’s emerging role as one of the largest buyers of US Treasury bills in the world as evidence of the demand for US debt instruments from stablecoin issuers.

Tether recently became the seventh-largest holder of US Treasuries, beating out Canada, Germany, Norway, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at the White House Crypto Summit on March 7, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would leverage stablecoins to extend US dollar hegemony and indicated this would be a top priority for officials in 2025.

According to a 2023 report from Chainalysis, over 50% of all the digital asset value transferred to countries in the Latin American region, including Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, and Venezuela was denominated in stablecoins.

The low transaction fees, relative stability, and near-instant settlement times for dollar-pegged stablecoins make these real-world tokenized assets ideal for remittances and stores of value for residents in developing countries suffering from high inflation and capital controls.

Magazine: Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized stablecoins

Politics

CFPB likely to step back from crypto regulation — Attorney

Published

4 hours ago

April 6, 2025

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CFPB likely to step back from crypto regulation — Attorney

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will likely see a reduced role in crypto regulations as other federal agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and state-level regulators assume a bigger role in crypto policy, according to Ethan Ostroff, partner at the Troutman Pepper Locke law firm.

“I think with the current administration, my sense is, we are highly likely to see a significant pullback by the CFPB in the context of the activity by other regulators,” Ostroff told Cointelegraph in an interview.

State regulators also have the authority under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) to assume some of the regulatory roles of the CFPB, the attorney said but also added that some regulatory functions will continue to fall within the purview of the CFPB as a matter of established law.

Ostroff cited the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) as regulators to keep an eye on as potential leaders of crypto regulations at the state level.

However, the attorney clarified that while the CFPB may see a diminished role during the Trump administration, the agency would not be outright dismantled during the current regime due to “statutorily mandated obligations and requirements” that require acts of Congress to change.

Trump administration targets CFPB in efficiency push

The Trump administration targeted the CFPB as part of a broader push by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash government spending and reduce the federal debt.

Russell Vought, the recently appointed head of the CFPB, announced major funding cuts to the agency and scaled back operations within days of assuming the helm at the CFPB in February 2025.

Bitcoin Regulation, US Government, United States, Donald Trump — *Source:* *Russell Vought*

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized Elon Musk for dismantling the CFPB, which the US senator co-founded back in 2007.

Warren characterized Musk as a “bank robber” and claimed that the Trump administration dismantled the CFPB to undo consumer protection rules and have greater control over the financial system.

In a February 12 interview with Mother Jones, the senator stressed that the Executive Branch of government does not have the statutory authority to fully dismantle the CFPB, which can only be done through Congressional approval.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

Politics

Nearly 400,000 FTX users risk losing $2.5 billion in repayments

Published

11 hours ago

April 6, 2025

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Nearly 400,000 FTX users risk losing .5 billion in repayments

Nearly 400,000 creditors of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX risk missing out on $2.5 billion in repayments after failing to begin the mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process.

Roughly 392,000 FTX creditors have failed to complete or at least take the first steps of the mandatory Know Your Customer verification, according to an April 2 court filing in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

FTX users originally had until March 3 to begin the verification process to collect their claims.

“If a holder of a claim listed on Schedule 1 attached thereto did not commence the KYC submission process with respect to such claim on or prior to March 3, 2025, at 4:00 pm (ET) (the “KYC Commencing Deadline”), 2 such claim shall be disallowed and expunged in its entirety,” the filing states.

Nearly 400,000 FTX users risk losing $2.5 billion in repayments — *FTX court filing. Source:* *Bloomberglaw.com*

The KYC deadline has been extended to June 1, 2025, giving users another chance to verify their identity and claim eligibility. Those who fail to meet the new deadline may have their claims permanently disqualified.

According to the court documents, claims under $50,000 could account for roughly $655 million in disallowed repayments, while claims over $50,000 could amount to $1.9 billion — bringing the total at-risk funds to more than $2.5 billion.

The next round of FTX creditor repayments is set for May 30, 2025, with over $11 billion expected to be repaid to creditors with claims of over $50,000.

Under FTX’s recovery plan, 98% of creditors are expected to receive at least 118% of their original claim value in cash.

How FTX users can complete KYC

Many FTX users have reported problems with the KYC process.

However, users who were unable to submit their KYC documentation can resubmit their application and restart the verification process, according to an April 5 X post from Sunil, FTX creditor and Customer Ad-Hoc Committee member.

Impacted users should email FTX support (support@ftx.com) to receive a ticket number, then log in to the support portal, create an account, and re-upload the necessary KYC documents.

FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, processed the first round of repayments in February, distributing $1.2 billion to creditors.

The crypto industry is still recovering from the collapse of FTX and more than 130 subsidiaries launched a series of insolvencies that led to the industry’s longest-ever crypto winter, which saw Bitcoin’s (BTC) price bottom out at around $16,000.

While not a “market-moving catalyst” in itself, the beginning of the FTX repayments is a positive sign for the maturation of the crypto industry, which may see a “significant portion” reinvested into cryptocurrencies, Alvin Kan, chief operating officer at Bitget Wallet, told Cointelegraph.