GP leader warns of the threat to personalised patient care - 12 Jun 08

• Extract from : http://tinyurl.com/4tex4y

Attempts to dumb down general practice by pushing commercial provision and polyclinics, will be bad for patients said the leader of the UK’s 44,000 GPs in a fiery speech today (Thursday 12/06/08) at the annual family doctors' conference.

In his opening address to the 2008 Local Medical Committee conference, Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee spelt out the likely effects of current government policies. His speech, to more than 400 GPs from all over the UK, came hours before he was due to deliver a petition to 10 Downing Street with 1,236,085 signatures of patients and the public urging the government to support and invest in the current model of NHS general practice.

Commenting on government plans to open polyclinics or new-style health centres in every area of England, Dr Buckman told the conference: “This dumbing down of general practice will spell the end of the generalist who can offer holistic care. It will see the rise of clinics further away from the patients they serve and providing much less of the personal care and commitment they value. It will see the rise of doctors in primary care who will know a lot about bits of the patient but not much about the family in context. This will be bad for these doctors and GPs and most importantly bad for the patients.”

He told the conference the government seemed not to value what GPs do and should be ashamed. He said:

• “If the government won’t listen to you, their doctors, then surely it will listen to 1,236,085 men and women who call for a halt to the plans to promote the use of commercial companies in general practice. Voters don’t want funding to move from GP practices to commercial companies who are accountable primarily to shareholders rather than patients. They want to be treated as patients, not customers.”

Continuity of care was valued, he said. “Patients come to us because they see us as providing continuity – something that matters to many. When asked how long we spend with patients we can say ‘25 years’. The government is chucking that away at their peril.”

The NHS should be investing in existing GP premises and staff rather than PFIs for the benefit of private shareholders, he said. “It will cost the country a fortune over the next 25 years. Better premises are the key to the better services GPs are itching to provide.”

Practice Based Commissioning was one of the main ways the NHS could develop, said Dr Buckman, adding this was an area where there was agreement with government.

He said: “My message to Gordon Brown is this: Whatever you think of GPs, take note of what your electorate thinks. We’re not saying we’re perfect. We want to improve. But work with us to do that, not against us, and ignore at your peril the wishes of the most important people in the NHS – the patients.”

• A full copy of the speech from Dr Laurence Buckman can be found here...

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