I am not a millennial. I am not a baby boomer either. To be honest with you, I don’t really know what I am (although apparently I am part of the “lost generation”). How could this possibly matter? Aren’t they just analytical constructs marketing people have developed to try and categorise different age groups?

Broadly speaking millennials are those currently aged 18-35. The first concrete example of the importance of this generation to general practice has been the startling growth of the GP at Hand service, where the practice of offering video consultations grew by 20,000 in 4 months. 85% of the patients joining were millennials.

So maybe there is something in the “millennials are different” mantra after all. This South African analysis resonates:

“The nature of the digital age is to prioritise speed, convenience, and value. The millennial, being digitally native, is exactly the same. This extends from their interactions online to their experiences in healthcare. Doctors do need to look at ways to adapt their practice to meet these expectations in order to meaningfully connect with their patients. From online bookings to …SMS alerts and online calendars, practices already have a multitude of digital solutions to choose from. It is OK that you make changes incrementally, but it is vital that practices start thinking about ways to increase the convenience and speed of the new doctor-patient process.”

Millennials: Getting to know the Patients of Tomorrow, Healthbridge, South Africa

The consensus is that the number of millennials is about to surpass the number of baby boomers, and the differential between the two will grow in the coming years. It is not only our patients but also our doctors who will increasingly be millennials.

Millennial doctors may well be less a product of a technological age, and more a group affected by the junior doctor dispute, the Bawa-Garba case, and training in a system where both they and their senior role models are struggling to cope. It is hardly surprising they feel unsupported, under-valued, and uninspired.

Add to that the growing rejection of the “deferred life plan”, of putting off what you really want to do for what is expected of you, of the idea of working hard until you are 65 to enjoy the benefits later. This is evident in the conflict between a generation of doctors who accepted intolerable conditions when they were training with a new generation who simply will not.

Lucy Cohen, in her article Why Practices Must Engage Millennials, writes,

“As a business owner, millennial, and employer of millennials, I see how different our lives are to that of previous generations. Expect to see them sitting at their desk for set hours of nine to five? Those days are long gone. And if you want millennials to engage with you, then you need to get on board with that idea. We’ve grown up accustomed to communicating and receiving answers almost instantly. So if your (practice) wants to engage with us, we need you to have systems in place to keep us posted on things.”

What I see in all of this is a tremendous opportunity for general practice. The NHS, and its constituent statutory bodies, is not going to be able to respond quickly to the demands of the new generation. The entrenched culture runs too deep. But general practice is far more agile. Individual practices can find ways of letting go of the past and of creating a new, different future that caters for the changing needs of the patients and the staff coming through the doors.

By strengthening the connection with their local community, by valuing individuals over traditional structures and ways of working, and by embracing the opportunity of technology, general practice can become the destination of choice for millennial doctors. It can also harness the growing engagement of millennial patients in their own health to improve health outcomes.

Understanding the changing needs of millennials is important because understanding the needs of our staff and our patients is important. It is an important place to start as we try and shift our thinking from “how do I get out of this crisis?” to “how do I build a sustainable future for this business?”

I will be exploring this issue in much more detail with a panel of experts this month. Watch out for the podcast episodes of these discussions which we will publish over the summer.