Has anyone seen this? Conservatives consider limit on GP visits

[John_Mills]

telegraph.co.uk/health/heal...

Susan

[Mooka]

Hi Susan

I had an email from the 38 deg team to sign an petition against these measures. This is the link if anyone wants to sign it. 38degrees.org.uk/campaigns

Mooka

[John_Mills Volunteer in reply to Mooka]

I signed it too Mooka

Susan

[cedric]

and me whats the country coming to

[Derek]

Likewise I have signed the 38 Degrees petition and included a comment along the lines that it is a ridiculous consideration because with any serious illness the family GP now knows enough about it for appropriate treatment and to react accordingly to any changes. With limited visits then having to see an alternative GP could result in an incorrect diagnosis and/or treatment leading to increased disability or an even worse scenario. As far as I'm concerned, once the visit limit is reached the only alternative would be A&E, which already is unable to cope and now a major concern itself.

[Winter64]

Signed too, along with a few others on there! Derek has said exactly what I said when I first heard this, everyone will then just go to A&E. I also commented on the petition about mental health, as we know it can stand alone but can also arrive or be made worse by poor or worsening physical health, i am currently seeing my doctor once a fortnight to review meds etc for depression and anxiety, if depression etc arrives when you have used your quota of appointments will this lead to increased numbers of suicide because they cant access the care and meds???

[SusieMC]

It is worth signing the government e petition. Just put that into your search engine. 100, 000 signatures will usually guarantee a debate in the House of Commons. There were only 8 signatures when I signed it so we need to work hard to get there, so come on everyone.

Sue

[milliewin]

also signed it!

Sarah

[Sima1952]

Received an e-mail from 38 Degrees, it says:

Good news. It looks like we may have nipped it in the bud. Jeremy Hunt has been forced to respond to our 180,000-strong petition. And he’s made a public pledge to "never" introduce a limit on the number of times we’re allowed to visit our GP.

Here's what he said on twitter in full. He couldn’t resist being rude about us, but it's still positive news:

On Tuesday, this was a serious Conservative Party policy proposal, being reported in national newspapers. [1] Now, it's "never" going to happen.

That's pretty extraordinary. By working together in big enough numbers, we've forced a leading politician to change his tune in just 48 hours. No wonder he doesn't like us - ordinary people, working together, are limiting his ability to damage our NHS.

This is what 38 Degrees is all about. Jeremy Hunt may grumble. But he knows he can't afford to ignore us.

[JimL]

During 2010 I was in and out of my GP's surgery and on my penultimate visit was told very brusquely that it was all due to me being so overweight and not pester them. It was only on the insistence of my neighbour that I made another visit and that sent me to hospital where they realised that my lungs had severe scaring and subsequent tests showed that I had WG/GPA.

Now suppose there had been a limit to the number of GP visits, I probably would not have done anything and so delayed diagnosis. Sure it would have saved the NHS some money in the short term but would have cost them a lot more in the long run ........... unless of course I did them a really big favour and died.