4th Nov 11
Lansley scales back plans for unfettered GP choice
by Paul Russell
Health check: MP said practice boundaries were frustrating for those with second homes
Health check: MP said practice boundaries were frustrating for those with second homes
The health secretary Andrew Lansley has been forced to dilute plans to allow people to select their preferred GP practice and register within a pay agreement with family doctors.
Lansley has agreed to a 0.5 per cent increase in GP practice income, which should go towards low-paid workers instead of increasing the average doctor’s yearly salary of £100,000. GPs have, in effect, have accepted a pay freeze in return for Lansley scrapping plans to allow the public the chance to choose their preferred GP.
The Department of Health was set to push on with the change in spite of warnings that it may undermine home visits, put vulnerable patients at greater risk, widen health inequalities and put rural practices out of business.
Just two weeks ago, Lansley again made the case to abolish ‘practice boundaries’, claiming that the current regulations were an “inconvenience” for people with second homes. However, Lansley, who saw patient choice as vital for promoting health service competition, has scaled back his plans for change.
Instead of permitting an unfettered choice of GP, the health secretary announced that in 2011 three cities will run pilot schemes to give patients greater flexibility in terms of registering with a doctor near their workplace or close to their children’s school.
The deal also means that people who move just a short distance away can stay with their current practice. Doctors were satisfied with the agreement, viewing a pay freeze as sufficient recompense for the government reversing their decision on patient choice.
The British Medical Association’s GP committee’s deputy chair Dr Richard Vautrey said that the majority of GPs were opposed to the total abolition of practical boundaries due t the potential negative effect on care continuity, so they’re satisfied that this alternative has been agreed.
Mr Vautrey went on to say that the deal will help commuters and patients who move away from a practice’s boundary but would like to remain registered. He added that it will be important to see what happens in the piloted areas.
The DoH said that alterations to performance-related income and the pay freeze would deliver an efficiency improvement estimated to be around 3.5 per cent. That is in comparison with the efficiency increase of 4.5 per cent a year which the government wants the NHS as a whole to achieve.
Mt Vautrey said that the NHS is functioning in a tough financial climate and that while GPs won’t get a pay increase, they’ve worked hard to make sure practises are compensated in some way for their mounting expenses and that the alterations made are consistent with a high standard of clinical practice.
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