Doctors hit out at NHS shake up proposals

Family doctors in the North East have raised concerns over plans for a large-scale shake up of the NHS in the region.

British Medical Association North East regional council chair Dr George Rae says the re-organisation – under the Health and Care Bill – could have a potentially disruptive impact on patient care.

The doctor's union also has concerns over whether the varying needs of all communities will be sufficiently accommodated.

In a letter to the North East’s MPs, Dr Rae warns that this is ‘the wrong bill at the wrong time’ and calls on them to ensure it is amended and strengthened in the best interests of the NHS and patient care.

Dr Rae warns that – amid ongoing pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic and, with the largest ever backlog of care – the bill comes at a precarious time for the NHS.

In the letter, he says: “As a doctor, working in the NHS, I witness daily the huge pressures facing the workforce which is still tackling the ongoing pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic and the huge backlog of care it has created.

“It is not the right time for the NHS or patients for the biggest reorganisation of the NHS in a decade. This Bill which fails to address dangerous workforce shortages; risks unnecessary and destabilising outsourcing to private providers, fails to empower and engage with local clinical leadership and gives politicians greater powers to interfere in operational NHS decision-making.”

Dr Rae has urged MPs representing a constituency in the North East to seek to support amendments to the Bill at Report Stage this week.