Question about NHS reforms
 

So GP practices will have the money to buy in services.

But when money is tight won't they just choose the cheapest service on offer which probably offers the worst treatment so patients will suffer?

I don't buy the concept that patients have much of a say in all this.

Plus most GPs are poor amateurs when it comes to drawing up contracts and evaluating bids. So I suppose they will have to recruit managers to do this - probably those recently fired by their FPCs :Suspiciou

dl

Might be a good idea if GPs are charged every time one of their patients turns up in A&E because they can't get to see a GP out-of-hours (or worse, have been turned away by the GP and are now a genuine emergency). It might incent them to provide a decent service again.

+1

Of course the corollary of that is that GPs will charge patients who don't turn up for appointments ;)

dl

Not a bad thing?

The last contract that the government imposed upon GPs basically took the responsibility for out of hours services away from GPs.
God only knows why, because at the same time, the government also gave the GPs a massive pay rise.
I guess this is what Blair and Gordon would refer to as investment in the public services.
You can't really blame the GPs on this one I am afraid.

Something that is a little bit odd about this, is that over the last good few years, corporate bodies and so on, have been encouraged to take over GP practices. Virgin, Tescos, that kind of thing.
These companies being no doubt easier for the NHS bureaucracy (ie PCTs and Department of Health) to deal with than pesky GP types.
How does this all square with these proposals is my question.

Looks like a typical new initiative to shout about in order to impress us of course.

We shall have to see if it will actually work I suppoise.

Les