Healthcare Republic reports on Wednesday that GP commissioning will be voluntary initially, according to a GP and member of the Conservative party clinical advisory committee.
It’s an opinion in sharp contrast to the Daily Mail headline on Friday which read: ‘GPs told they must provide out-of-hours care’.
This week Labour and Conservative primary care policy split further with the news that the Tories are proposing GP appointments 8am – 8pm seven days a week.
The Tories explain that GPs will be ‘free to meet this requirement however they see fit’. This could be through a GP co-operative, commissioning it from specialist providers such as an ambulance trust, or through contracts with local hospitals and healthcare centres.
I had 10 days off over Christmas and read Ann Treneman’s excellent Annus Horribilis: The Worst Year In British Politics.
Ann is a political sketch writer for The Times and her book is a collection of her best work over a Parliamentary year which included swine flu, the recession and the MPs’ expenses scandal. I was already recovering from one cracked rib and feared I might do myself more damage because I was laughing so heartily.
When health secretary Andy Burnham is not twittering his
love for the NHS or ignoring expert advice on Tamiflu, he busies himself
running the DoH.
But he’s taken a break to write an article for The Guardian
this week, slating the David Cameron’s plans for the NHS. Apparently the Tories
are going to turn the NHS into the ‘world’s biggest quango’, whatever that
means.
As the general election rushes ever closer and GPs desert Labour in droves, 2009 is already beginning to look like a year of comebacks for politicians from the past – particularly former health secretaries.
This week, GP reveals that support for Labour among GPs is in freefall. This is not unexpected, but the extent of the swing away from the party towards the Tories shows just how unhappy GPs are with the government.
Backing for Labour has fallen by two-thirds in the past decade, from 44% in 1997 to just 15% now. Over the same period, support for the Conservatives has surged from 24% to 50%.
The Tories are, unsurprisingly, delighted with the results. Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said: ‘This is a real vote of confidence in the Conservative party’s policies for the NHS.’
But, is it? Our survey suggests that the swing is a result of disillusionment with Labour as opposed to anything else. Over half of GPs rated Labour’s performance on the NHS since 1997 as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
Considering the record investment the government has made, the introduction of the QOF which has significantly improved patient care and a massive fall in deaths from heart disease, among other achievements, this may be surprising to those outside the profession.
But, during the past few years the government has unleashed a series of policies that many feel have been designed to undermine GPs and could eventually bring the end of general practice as we know it: the expanding role of the private sector and the introduction of GP-led health centres to name but two.
Add to that an ultimatum that practices must open for longer (regardless of whether their patients want them to) or lose money; three successive annual pay freezes; an increasing insistence that GPs follow a dizzying array of protocols and guidance rather than using their own judgement; and an apparent fondness among some at the DoH to indulge in a spot of public GP bashing, and it is not hard to see why GPs are so disillusioned with Labour.
We’re interested in knowing what you think about all of this. Does the Conservative Party actually have better policies on health – or, is it just that anyone else is better than the current lot? What has been Labour’s biggest mistake during the past 10 years to cause this massive shift? What policies would you like to see dropped or introduced?
You can post your comments below to let us know what you think.
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