GPs' out-of-hours service 'shambolic' claim MPs
The labour Government's handling of out-of-hours services for GP patients is condemned today as "shambolic" by an all-party committee of MPs. The best interests of patients had not been served by the new system, the public purse had suffered and Saturday morning surgeries had been abandoned, the MPs said.
When GPs were allowed to opt out of responsibility for night and weekend cover three years ago. There was a surge of complaints as patients waited hours for home visits and phone calls went unanswered. Both A&E attendances and costs to the NHS soared.
A patchwork of systems was introduced by primary care trusts (PCTs) charged with replacing the GP service. They used nurses, paramedics, PCT-run teams, private companies and existing GP co-operatives.
Katherine Murphy, a spokesman for The Patients Association, said yesterday: "It is still really difficult to get to see a GP out of hours. At least before, people could see a GP on a Saturday morning.
"There is no continuity of care. It is frightening for patients and difficult for those with long-term conditions.
"Before they could at least talk to their doctor on the phone. It has cost all this extra money and instead of the NHS progressing and improving out-of-hours care, there has been a step backwards."
The report from the public accounts committee criticises GPs and primary care trusts as well as the Government for the flawed "hand-over" of out-of-hours services.
It says: "We found that preparations for the new service were shambolic, both at the national and local level."
GPs who opted out - and most of them did - were penalised, losing on average £6,000 a year. But the Department of Health allocated £322 million to PCTs for the services in 2005-06 and was £70 million over budget. Edward Leigh, the chairman of the committee, said yesterday: "The Department of Health thoroughly mishandled the introduction of the new system.
"It chose to act as an observer, and no more, in the negotiations with GP representatives. This hands-off approach to the costs of out-of-hours care was good news for the doctors but no one else.
"They were given a strong incentive to opt out (a lot less work for a small loss of income) and a disproportionate amount of taxpayers' money is now having to be spent to provide the replacement service.
"The new service is getting better but the needs of patients are not best served where access to advice and treatment is often extremely difficult and slow.
"And they are not best served where no one knows whether the new out-of-hours service is meant for urgent cases only or for any requests for help at all."
The report says nine million patients receive out-of-hours care in England every year. But the percentage of providers who met targets on answering calls or making visits was "extremely low". Only two per cent of calls were answered within a minute and only 15 per cent of services provided "urgent face-to-face consultations at home" within two hours.
Stephen O'Brien, the Conservative health spokesman, said: "The Government has failed on out-of-hours provision. "Not only has the extra cost added to the cash crisis in our NHS but it has pushed more people into busy A&E units, putting greater pressure on our hospitals."
From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/14/nhs114.xml
The utter shambles that labour has made of the GPs surgeries open hours review had doctors reeling in the isles with laughter and disbelief when it was revealed to them.
On 31 Jan 07 Health Direct posted BMA team 'stunned by out of hours GP contract' as a bit of a laugh. GPs were so stunned by the terms offered to them when negotiating their new contract in 2004 that they thought it was a "bit of a laugh", a doctor has said. Dr Simon Fradd, who was one of British Medical Association's GP negotiators, said they were shocked by the approach taken by the labour government.
They could not believe that the labour govt was stupid enough to offer GPs the chance not to do evening and weekend work for only a 6% pay cut, he said.
When GPs were allowed to opt out of responsibility for night and weekend cover three years ago. There was a surge of complaints as patients waited hours for home visits and phone calls went unanswered. Both A&E attendances and costs to the NHS soared.
A patchwork of systems was introduced by primary care trusts (PCTs) charged with replacing the GP service. They used nurses, paramedics, PCT-run teams, private companies and existing GP co-operatives.
Katherine Murphy, a spokesman for The Patients Association, said yesterday: "It is still really difficult to get to see a GP out of hours. At least before, people could see a GP on a Saturday morning.
"There is no continuity of care. It is frightening for patients and difficult for those with long-term conditions.
"Before they could at least talk to their doctor on the phone. It has cost all this extra money and instead of the NHS progressing and improving out-of-hours care, there has been a step backwards."
The report from the public accounts committee criticises GPs and primary care trusts as well as the Government for the flawed "hand-over" of out-of-hours services.
It says: "We found that preparations for the new service were shambolic, both at the national and local level."
GPs who opted out - and most of them did - were penalised, losing on average £6,000 a year. But the Department of Health allocated £322 million to PCTs for the services in 2005-06 and was £70 million over budget. Edward Leigh, the chairman of the committee, said yesterday: "The Department of Health thoroughly mishandled the introduction of the new system.
"It chose to act as an observer, and no more, in the negotiations with GP representatives. This hands-off approach to the costs of out-of-hours care was good news for the doctors but no one else.
"They were given a strong incentive to opt out (a lot less work for a small loss of income) and a disproportionate amount of taxpayers' money is now having to be spent to provide the replacement service.
"The new service is getting better but the needs of patients are not best served where access to advice and treatment is often extremely difficult and slow.
"And they are not best served where no one knows whether the new out-of-hours service is meant for urgent cases only or for any requests for help at all."
The report says nine million patients receive out-of-hours care in England every year. But the percentage of providers who met targets on answering calls or making visits was "extremely low". Only two per cent of calls were answered within a minute and only 15 per cent of services provided "urgent face-to-face consultations at home" within two hours.
Stephen O'Brien, the Conservative health spokesman, said: "The Government has failed on out-of-hours provision. "Not only has the extra cost added to the cash crisis in our NHS but it has pushed more people into busy A&E units, putting greater pressure on our hospitals."
From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/14/nhs114.xml
The utter shambles that labour has made of the GPs surgeries open hours review had doctors reeling in the isles with laughter and disbelief when it was revealed to them.
On 31 Jan 07 Health Direct posted BMA team 'stunned by out of hours GP contract' as a bit of a laugh. GPs were so stunned by the terms offered to them when negotiating their new contract in 2004 that they thought it was a "bit of a laugh", a doctor has said. Dr Simon Fradd, who was one of British Medical Association's GP negotiators, said they were shocked by the approach taken by the labour government.
They could not believe that the labour govt was stupid enough to offer GPs the chance not to do evening and weekend work for only a 6% pay cut, he said.
Labels: BMA, GPs, health direct, Labour shambles, out of hours
posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic at
8:51 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home