Live updates from The Star's visit to a Sheffield GP surgery

Today The Star is visiting Birley Health Centre in Sheffield, to spend the day with Dr Ben Allen and the rest of the staff there.

We’ll be looking at how busy the GP surgery is, patient satisfaction with the services, and asking doctors and other medical staff what the job is like these days.

There has been a lot of frustration lately from doctors over the news stories published in national media and discussions in the House of Commons which falsely paint a picture of GPs lazily telling patients to sign up for online appointments or passing people on to other medical professionals.

And many patients have complained of difficulty getting appointments.

A number of Sheffield GPs have pointed out that, while patient’s anger is justified and they respect it, chronic underfunding of the NHS and the increased expectations of what it is GPs are supposed to cover in their remit has left doctors facing the impossible task of providing a health service that caters for what people want rather than what they need.

And the Government’s recent announcement of more funding for face-to-face appointments was slammed as ‘inadequate’ and plans to rank and fund surgeries based on how many face-to-face appointments they provide was branded ‘dangerous’.

And many GPs have said this increased demand, along with the cutting of resources available to meet it, means they are working harder now than they have ever done in their lives.

Keep up-to-date with whet we learn using this live blog.