When you walk into your doctors office, you want to know your GP is only thinking about giving you the care you need, not the money they can save or the targets they have to hit. But right now some GPs are being offered cash incentives to cut the number of patients they refer to hospital - including people who might have cancer.
This plan is dangerous. If we want to stop this scheme before it spreads across England, it will need thousands of us to tell Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to put an end to it. Will you sign the petition?
It has been happening for quite a while actually. GP refusing to refer me to consultants... had to fight with her... so it will certainly get much worse. American style health insurance policies are on their way....
Agree Clutter BUT if there was no money or other gratuity offered as an incentive GPs would not oblige! So really they are not "innocent" nor that caring. Am SO tired of having to fight for everything all of the time when feeling so unwell. They have totally forgotten what it is that makes a "doctor" out of them.... MONEY is the incentive in many cases.. of course there is always the odd doctor here and there who does care but rarely this is the case.
- everyone needs to remember just because Jeremy ?unt face proposes it (no one calls him by his real name in General Practice), it is not necessarily accepted in General Practice by the majority of GP's.
Jeremy himself has admitted he is working to a five year plan and boy is he achieving it and part and parcel of that is dissention in camp, when patients believe (and if you believe the gutter press you may well do) that General Practice is an 'them and us situation'. Then he has achieved his plan of privatisation of the NHS.
I am talking from 23 years in General Practice and believe in fact not fiction. Fact there are no GP's today a friend with a sister in London says she has to wait 6-8 weeks for a GP appointment (someone from London may back me up on this). Here in NI we have had practice closures (this never happened in the past there was always someone to takeover). There are no locums - In the past if a Doctor was off on holidays or sick I would have a list of at least 50 locums to work through to find a replacement. Now there is hardly anyone on the list and getting them is impossible.
The same situation is emerging with Nurses - you may be familiar with visiting your practice nurse for things like and MOT, Copd or asthma review well that will shortly become a thing of the past.
As for incentives for money - well there is currently one in NI for Records and Systems where doctors are to review there referrals - so why do you seriously think they do this? Do you think they want to reduce their referrals? No - its yet another of the nonsense hoops we have to jump through to get any funding in General Practice (remember we don't make the rules). I have yet to meet a doctor who will moderate there referrals (I know a lot of Doctors). They already make referrals where they deem necessary bearing in mind local/national guidelines (funny they don't write these either).
It is a noted fact that 'Red Flag Referrals' i.e. those deemed immediately necessary or cancerous have a 2% outcome rate. This means in reality that of 100 red flag referrals approximately 2 will need further treatment or will be deemed cancer. The other 98% have a happy outcome. Now Doctors feel this 2% is fantastic - for one in General Practice we do not have the means to investigate major problems such as CT scans/MRI or indeed oncology skills. It really depends on perspective if you are one of the 98% it does not diminish the fact the trauma you have gone through until you have had you happy result. If you are one of the 2% happy days its bad news but there is now a chance of treatment. I do not know a Doctor that would not refer the 100% for the chance of catching the 2%. Never mind the near £10,000 they have to pay in indemnity insurance to gain £5 to pay out thousands.
General Practice is currently on its knees and for years I have been reading the money we make - well for one in 17 years the accounts have been my soul responsibility and if we are making so much money where am I going wrong?
When General Practice is gone it will be gone - models of health care will be much the same as the USA and I am afraid that only those whom can pay will receive appropriate care the rest of us will be left like cattle fodder.
Also with regards to prescribing, in Northern Ireland at least we receive no incentive for what we prescribe. There has been schemes in the past were we have been paid a % of prescribing costs made in reduction of switching from high priced drugs but nothing now. Please note that these prescribing incentive savings could only be spent on patient benefits i.e equipment for patient diagnosis such as ecg or spirometry machines. Not the lining of GP pockets that is often implied. We also do not set the drugs/medications allowed this is through local guidelines or formulary.
In summary I have not know one good thing that has come out of the mouth of old Jeremy (?unt). Why would you believe a word he says without research into his ulterior
I have just read that according to Nhs England data 219 Doctors left in 3 months in England. Some will have naturally retired (although I see more doing so early now), some have emigrated and some have just given up as its just not worth it anymore - Dr bashing had become the norm the powers that be want it that way. While everyone is disillusioned with the nhs and it becomes beyond fixing they will offer another way private health care that will cherry pick and cost an arm and a leg.
I worked for the NHS for 27years until I had to retire on ill health due to a relapsing and remitting autoimmune CNS disease and now I also have autoimmune Thyroiditis with severe Hypothyroidism. I have an excellent GP Endocrinologist and Neurologist. I have experience both sides of the fence so to speak. The NHS is under more and more pressure every year. Mr Hunt will destroy it. Privatisation is not the way to go. I’m a member of another forum where the majority of members are from the USA. It fills me with horror to read what they have to go through just to get the basics of care for their long term condition. I really don’t think the majority of people realise how disadvantaged they will be under a private healthcare system and how unaffordable it will be for those who already have a chronic long term condition
This isn't GP bashing it's an objection to NHS England and certain CCGs attempting to undermine GPs by incentivising referral rationing due to political underfunding of secondary care in NHS England.
Sorry clutter I wasnt referring to the petition but In general. I should have made myself clearer. The media and the government are the ones doing the Dr bashing. It started with the extortionate money they are making (never seen it myself), then the problems with waiting lists was Drs referring too much (Drs referral practice has not changed). Then the waiting times in A&e was the drs fault (again drs havent referred any more than previous years). It has been the chronic underfunding and hospital closures that have clogged up the system. You wait in a&e because there are not enough beds to put people into or there not enough Drs to see the patients. Just a few examples.
I truly worry about the nhs but i worry more for patients. Mr Hunt has a lot to answer for.
I think most members are able to see through claims that A&E waiting times are due to lack of GP appointments or patients attending A&E inappropriately and realise that underfunding is the cause. I only hope it influences their voting choices when it comes to the next general election.
Not in this instance but I do see and read GP bashing on the forum and some of it could put people off seeing their GP or another or make them feel that they just can’t trust any doctor. Phrases such as ‘ you must get rid off your doctor before he kills you ‘ or ‘your doctor is killing you ‘ are really inappropriate
Some members have had very poor experiences with GPs and other doctors. They are entitled to express their mistrust. Sometimes members relate treatment or lack or treatment which is so poor it verges on negligence so the responses may be appropriate and advice to change doctor may be very appopriate.
I don’t disagree with that but the use of the word ‘kill’ or ‘killing’ really !! is that appropriate when you don’t know the doctor the person or what other cormorbities they may have ...
This is the bit that I've never been quite sure of. Do we know anyone who has run a 38 degrees or change.org petition and actually had it debated in parliament? Just curious.
Either the article is wrong or the petitions committee reconsidered because the petitions do get debated in Parliament when they reach over 100K signatures.
I get regular emails from 38 degrees and their campaigns have led to debates in parliament again resulting in the overturning if this horrible governments plans for example tax credits. I get them due to being a single parent working for the government/- that campaign was won thankfully and I’ve signed many many more. Jeremy ?unt is stripping the nhs and alongside this reducing pay for doctors who study for years, amass huge debt and work crazy hours - now £unt wants to privatise- this scares me esp if we end up like America and esp if you are not rich, have chronic health conditions or can’t afford private health care. I didn’t vote for this government I never would because they only think of the rich! Not the middle man or everyday man. I truly hope people wake up and realise this government is eroding all services to save money. Why don’t they change tax laws so big corporations actually pay tax and recoup money. I don’t want to be cynical but most of their supports will be these said big corporations and rich friends - phew rant over
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