Is Milliband making promises GP's cant keep?
Ed Milliband has pledged that he wants to see all patients to get an appointment with their GP within 48 hours and if necessary same day consultation, cost 100 million pounds, is this attainable?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27377978
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27377978
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Sorry I meant when the last time any of Ed's policy statements was possible in the real world and not the fantasy world he lives in
If he said "their GP" he's talking through his backside.
A sizeable number don't work fulltime at GP surgeries. My wife has had to wait up to a month for an appointment with her GP.
I think half of the problem is the antiquated way that some GP's run their practice, and also GP's not wanting to go into a joint practice.
GPS just stopped giving out future appts and insisted that people phoned on the day so they met their qofs and targets
I remember when I lived in London and needed to make a future appt for a non urgent matter, I had a 2 hour commute to work and needed to make an appt as early as possible so I could let my employers know what days I would be late and when I would be coming in to work (not unreasonable is it).
Instead I had to be on the phone trying to get an apt at 8am in the morning, getting an appt at 11.30 and not getting into work until the afternoon, instead of being able to arrange the earliest day when I could get a 9am slot and be at work at 11.am
There are times when people don't NEED a same day appt it should be the patients choice not the government or the GPs
You said "a GP" as opposed to "my GP"
Out of interest did you try and make an appointment with your own doctor or, like my family, have you gotten used to seeing whoever might be available if you want one sooner rather than later?
I don't have my "own GP" - I go to a group practice, they are all qualified and have access to my notes. I'm not bothered about seeing a specific GP, like I say, they are all well qualified. I've never been to one that couldn't treat me.
Lucky you last time I tried to get an appointment to see a female GP at my local surgery as it was "non-urgent" the earliest they could see me was in 3 weeks
Exactly. The problems with Labour's obsession with targets is that they always have unintended consequences. If want an appointment for a non-urgent problem next Thursday morning because it's my day off work then I should be able to book a specific time a week or so in advance. People will always work towards the target and stop doing anything which reduces their chances of hitting it.
No is the short answer - the budgets in the NHS are tight enough as it is - and this is not new money, it is the same money re-allocated so where exactly is it going to come?
So as far as I am concerned any new scheme that they have dreamed up will be another unmitigated disaster.
Mr Miliband said the £100m funding for the pledge would come from savings made elsewhere in the NHS.
Classic stuff Ann!
We've had this argument before. Often wanting to be seen "doing something" is the worst thing a politician can do.
"Something must be done"
"This is something"
"Therefore we must do it"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vidzkYnaf6Y
The GP's contracts were one of Labour's greatest cock ups, offering them more money to do less work is the sort of economic madness only they could come up with.
Invest to save. A&E. for non urgent appointments cost horrendous amounts and lots of A&E non urgent visits occur because the person needing care can't see a GP on time.
The NHS has an annual budget of about £100 bn so £100m is 0.1% or about what is spent every night while you are asleep.
And it is money which at present is being spent on existing patients' needs. They are the ones who will suffer.
IMHO, on arrival at A&E you are seen by a Triage Nurse who determines the severity of your condition; if you are classified as Major then you are seen as soon as possible, with a deadline of 4hrs, if you are classified as Minor then you sit in the Waiting Room until all Major patients have been seen. If that takes 1hr or 12hrs then those are the breaks.
Treatment should always be based on clinical need, not an artificial target.
I'm not sure this would work. If more appointments have been made with a few GPs than they can see in a day, this will mount up over a week and will then cause someone phoning up to make an appointment with them to wait for so many days or longer. I really don't think this will be able to work. The only way this MIGHT work is if GPs were to hardly spend any time with their patients, but this would result in not getting to know about their patient's problem properly. No, I don't think this would work. I think the receptionists tell people phoning up to make an appointment with a GP here that have too many appointments booked with them that that GP isn't available and to pick another one. Once the list of appointments goes down by so much, then they become available again.
I saw that too. It was the worst piece of false concern I have ever seen.
Ed: "What wrong with you?
Patient: "I fell off my bike"
Ed: "Oh.. I'm sooooo sorry to hear that!"
He really needs to improve his bedside manner.
He's crap at pool too: http://order-order.com/2014/05/12/watch-eds-big-break/