Rabu, 02 Mei 2012

Family GPs are ordered to cut number of patients referred to hospital to earn extra cash

Family GPs are ordered to cut number of patients referred to hospital to earn extra cash

  • Controversial scheme can pay out almost £9,000 a year to surgeries
  • Fears patients are having to bear the brunt of NHS 'efficiency savings'

By Sophie Borland

PUBLISHED: 18:02 EST, 1 May 2012 | UPDATED: 02:31 EST, 2 May 2012


Family doctors are being ordered to slash the numbers of patients they send to hospital to earn extra cash.

Six out of ten GPs said they face ‘inappropriate’ pressure to refer fewer patients and potentially deny them the best care.

The controversial scheme can pay out almost £9,000 a year to surgeries.

GPs could get extra cash for not sending patients to hospitals for treatment (picture posed by models)

GPs could get extra cash for not sending patients to hospitals for treatment (picture posed by models)

It started last May when ministers brought in a series of targets enabling GPs to  be rewarded for cutting the number of patients sent to hospital specialists or AE departments.

However, a poll of 667 doctors found that 60 per cent were facing ‘inappropriate demands’ from managers.

Chief executive of the Patients Association Katherine Murphy

The proposals have left Chief executive of the Patients Association Katherine Murphy 'concerned'

The NHS has been told to save £20billion over the next three years, leaving health trust managers looking for ways to cut costs.

Primary care trusts are charged for each of their patients who is treated in hospital.

One doctor in the survey carried out by GP Newspaper said the scheme was a ‘huge waste of time’ and ‘meaningless Government box-ticking’.

Another admitted: ‘If patients knew how much external pressure we were under to keep them out of hospital, they would mistrust our motives.’

And one said he was so dismayed by the system that it was the main reason he had decided to retire.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: ‘Once again, it is patients who are having to bear the brunt of supposed “efficiency savings” in the NHS.

‘Trusts and the Department of Health cannot continue to  pretend that it is business as usual while patients suffer.’

The scheme is part of the controv ersial Quality and Outcomes Framework target system, whereby practices earn points which are converted into cash.

They get 68.5 points if they promise to ‘review’ the numbers of patients referred to hospital.

Each point is worth £130.51p, so a practice can earn up to £8,939 a year, which can be ploughed back into running costs or staff pay.

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Surely their target should be to reduce the number of un-necessary referrals than a blanket all referrals!

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Everything is all aboout money these days, even up to people health.. - Wind, In the willows, 2/5/2012 10:36 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Or to put it another way, it is about how much of my taxes are wasted but a bloated, lazy, incompetent public sector- All the best Dave

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Never a truer saying: "Your life is in their hands". Once again we are being let down by the NHS. Jeeeeez.

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A friend of mine went to his GP with a hearing problem. She refered him via the NHS to an ENT clinic run by a private company. He saw a doctor, who happened to be a personal friend of his GP. She diagnosed a slight loss of hearing but refered him to the local hospital for a head MRI scan on the grounds that he might just be suffering from an ear problem that can only be found by an MRI scan. She addmitted that, if the condition was there, it would not cause any further problem nor could it be treated but it would be 'nice to know'. On arriving for the MRI first appointment in the morning he found the unit was run by another part of the same private company that had refered him. There were 2 operators, one of whom was slumped over a desk and was described as being 'sick' but seemed more like a hangover. So the NHS was charged several hundred pounds to check for a highly unlikely condition which wasn't there and about which nothing could be done anyway. A sweet deal.

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This is disturbing. There are lots of ways to campaign to stop this.

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What next, gas everyone over 60 (MP's excepted no doubt)

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Everything is all aboout money these days, even up to people health..

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Totally ridiculous. These ministers just don't live in the real world. When are we the public going to challenge this? - Will, London, 2/5/2012 2:33 ------------------------------------------------------ In the real world, people pay for the services that they want/need.In the NHS world everything is free at the point of delivery and hence not valued. Why not, as in France for example, expect people to pay for a contribution to the cost of treatment, that would reduce waste no end. An absence of cost control means waste and a failure to valve the service All the best Dave

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The days when you put yourself completely in the hands of your GP are long gone.Nowadays you have to take a much greater interest in your own health if you want to ensure you are receiving the best treatment.If you don't think it's satisfactory then say so,if you feel a referral is necessary then ask for one.If you don't feel bold enough then take a family member with you.

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My surgery is ignoring this according to the doctors and good thing too. If you need hospital tests insist and don't leave until the doctor agrees, Patient Power !

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