Now GPs want more cash to do private work on own patients

GPs want to charge their own patients for minor surgery and injections to boost funding for surgeries.

A group of senior doctors are attempting to re-write their contracts to enable them to make money by carrying out more private work.

Current rules ban GPs from charging their own patients for any private treatment as this is deemed to be a conflict of interest.

Minor surgery and travel vaccinations are not offered for free on the NHS so if patients want them, GPs must direct them to other practices. But doctors from the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Local Medical Committee hope to use a loophole to be allowed to carry out private work.

They are aiming to work under a private firm to carry out minor surgery, injections and other chargeable procedures.

Patients would then pay the company, and the cash would go back to GPs.

The family doctors behind the plan argue that they are not being given enough funding from the Government to meet soaring patient demand.

Dr Prit Buttar, chair of the LMC, said he hoped the plans would be ‘in operation’ by the end of the year. Speaking to Pulse magazine, which uncovered the proposals, he added they would ‘allow practices to take on what they want’.

He said: ‘We have to look at alternative ways of increasing funding and look at models which will allow practices to operate within the rules. They will offer practice services, for example if someone wants a minor operation but can only do this in an evening then they can do this by charging a small fee.

‘It will allow GPs to value their own time more and puts pressure on the Government. The Government is a monopoly customer, they can dictate how much they are willing to pay. We want to put in place something which is robust which can be rolled out across the country and will allow GPs to specify which services they want to provide. We are in preliminary discussions with other LMCs to come up with terms of reference.

‘We want to get something in operation by the end of the year.’

Earlier this month a Mail investi- gation uncovered how thousands of GP surgeries were shutting for three-hour lunches or for an entire midweek afternoon.

On just one day the Mail visited surgeries in London, Birmingham, Derby, Plymouth, Bristol, Cambridge and Newcastle which had all closed for the afternoon.

The Government subsequently ordered doctors to stay open for longer – including at evenings and weekends – warning them that they were contributing to the crisis in A&E units. In a personal intervention, the Prime Minister demanded easier access to surgeries to help tackle overcrowding in hospitals.

Now they will have to open from 8am to 8pm every day, unless they can prove there is no demand for it. This provoked a row among GP leaders who accused ministers of ‘scapegoating’ them – and trying to distract attention away from the failings of the NHS. The British Medical Association, which represents GPs, appeared to distance itself from these latest plans to try and charge patients.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s GP committee chairman, said: ‘All GP practices are contracted to provide free care to every patient irrespective of their financial ability to pay. This is a key cornerstone of the NHS which the vast majority of doctors support. GPs are not allowed to charge their own patients for most private services even if these are not available on the NHS, including minor surgery procedures to some to remove benign lumps. This proposal, which is not fully developed, appears to seek to provide services outside of what GPs would usually provide to their patients as part of their NHS care.

‘Irrespective of this scheme and its aims, the immediate priority is for the Government to address the incredible pressure on GP services.’

An NHS England spokesman said: ‘All patients have a right to access high quality primary care services which are free at the point of delivery. Strict Safeguards are in place to ensure that GPs cannot charge patients for NHS services.’

Meanwhile Dr Uzma Ahmad, GP and Wallsall LMC medical secretary, said other regions might follow the same plan, if they did not see improvements to their contracts.

Dr Ahmad said: ‘We are going to wait for three months – if nothing positive comes up I think other regions might follow this plan.

‘We need to safeguard ourselves, there has to be some other way to continue to practise.’

‘Huge pressure on doctors’