GPS threaten to leave NHS and charge fees
GPS ARE threatening to break away from the NHS and calling on their union to help them set up a “private alternative model”.
A motion, due to be debated by a national conference of doctors next week, follows repeated claims by the British Medical Association (BMA) that the health service is at breaking point. The proposal calls on the union to support GPS who want to charge patients fees, instead of being funded by the NHS.
Patients’ groups last night said the prospect was “frightening” and said taxpayers should not be expected to “pay twice over” for healthcare, having already funded the training of doctors.
A motion drawn up by Bedfordshire local medical committee (LMC) calls on the BMA’S GP committee (GPC) to support privatisation. “Given that a number of GPS genuinely feel that they can no longer operate within the NHS, conference calls on GPC England to urgently look at how these GPS can be supported to operate within a private, alternative model,” the agenda reveals.
The GP leaders will gather in London next Friday to vote on national policies for the BMA’S GPC. Other motions propose making it easier for surgeries to refuse to take patients, and “golden handcuffs” deals for GPS aged 55 and over. A series of motions warns of shortages of doctors. Herefordshire LMC suggests the health service’s current inability to retain GPS is the “greatest threat to the NHS since its inception”.
Joyce Robins, from Patient Concern, said she was appalled by the proposals. “We have already paid for the health service, we should not be expected to
‘I absolutely hope this vote doesn’t go through; most elderly patients can’t afford to go private’
pay twice,” she said. “It is very frightening. Most elderly patients can’t afford private and wouldn’t know where to go if their local GP wasn’t there.”
Prof Helen Stokes-lampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPS, said: “General practice has been the bedrock of the NHS for nearly 70 years and family doctors are doing their utmost to ensure it stays that way. To consider privatisation in any shape or form is not the answer.”
A BMA spokesman said: “General practice is under unsustainable and mounting pressure from rising demand, contracting budgets and staff shortages. The BMA has consistently called for the Government to properly fund general practice so that patients can receive the best possible care, free at the point of delivery.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “GPS are the bedrock of our health service, but we know that they face real pressure as demand increases and our population ages.
“We have recently set out plans to provide a sustainable solution to the unpredictable costs of indemnity and are investing an extra £2.4billion by 2020 in GP surgeries; we want to work with them to overcome these and other challenges and give NHS patients the high-quality care they deserve.”