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GPs debate 'no confidence' motion GPs 'no confidence' in NHS policy
(1 day later)
Hundreds of GPs are gathering in London threatening to issue a vote of no confidence in the government. GPs have given the government a vote of no confidence over its handling of the NHS at their annual conference.
Delegates at the British Medical Association's GPs conference will attack a whole raft of NHS policies. Delegates at the British Medical Association's meeting attacked a raft of health policies, accusing government of wasting millions of pounds.
They will accuse ministers of trying to get GP out-of-hours care on the cheap, while questioning the role of the private sector and patient choice. Family doctors also branded out-of-hours care "shambolic".
Doctors leaders said GPs were annoyed that their rise in pay in recent years had been blamed for the NHS's ills. And they said they had been made a "scapegoat" for the problems in the NHS after seeing their pay rise in recent years.
GPs have come under fire for opting out of weekend and evening care following the introduction of a new contract in 2004.
We have invested record amounts in out-of-hours services David Colin-Thome, the government's primary care tsarWe have invested record amounts in out-of-hours services David Colin-Thome, the government's primary care tsar
GPs have come under fire for opting out of weekend and evening care following the introduction of a new contract in 2004.
The deal also saw their pay rise by one-third in the space of 12 months, taking average annual earnings through the £100,000 barrier.The deal also saw their pay rise by one-third in the space of 12 months, taking average annual earnings through the £100,000 barrier.
Anger at the rises - GPs hit more performance targets than ministers expected - contributed to two consecutive pay freezes. Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA's GPs committee, said: "I make no apologies for the pay increases that we have successfully negotiated and no apologies that we are among the best paid in Europe¿ as we provide the best care."
Speaking to the BBC ahead of the conference, Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association's GPs committee, said: "Doctors are angry and demoralised. He also said ministers risk missing their flagship 18-week waiting target next year because cuts were forcing care to be rationed and choose and book, an IT network to link up hospitals and GPs, was not working.
"Some of the reforms are fragmenting care and are not in the interests of patients, but we are getting the blame because of pay. It is not fair and we have had enough." Other doctors at the two-day conference were also critical of the government, culminating in an overwhelming majority of delegates giving both the government and Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt a vote of no confidence.
Among the motions to be debated at the two-day conference is one proposing a vote of no confidence in the government and Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt's handling of the NHS.
CriticismCriticism
Individual motions have also been put forward criticising Choose and Book, the computer system linking up GPs and hospitals, the use of private treatment centres for NHS work and out-of-hours care. Dr Eric Rose, a GP from Milton Keynes, said: "Ten years ago when Labour came to power I had great hopes.
The out-of-hours motion says current arrangements are "shambolic" as under-funding has led to patients not being able to get access to doctors. "After all, this was the party that created the NHS and whose party election slogan was '24 hours to save the NHS'."
Another motion proposes charging patients £20 to see a doctor out-of-hours if it is not an emergency. But he said a range of policies, including NHS Direct, walk-in centres, patient choice and use of the private sector, were failing.
Dr Meldrum said the charging motion was against official BMA policy, but was a sign of doctors' frustration. "This government is damaging the fabric of the NHS. It has squandered millions of pounds of tax-payers money."
He added: "We have some serious concerns about out-of-hours care. It is clear the investment is not being put in." But Dr Michael Griffiths, from Gwent in Wales, defended the government.
"It has not been that bad. Much of the money taken out of the NHS by the Tories has been put back in."
GPs have also passed a motion that says GP out-of-hours arrangements are "shambolic" as patients are not able to get access to experienced doctors.
Stockport GP Dr David Gilbert said: "Some providers are more concerned with profit, flying doctors in from Eastern Europe."
Dr Kevin McBride, a GP from Wiltshire, agreed services were poor.
But he said some of the blame lay with family doctors as most of them had voted to opt out of responsibility for night and weekend care three years ago.
He said they perhaps should have kept responsibility for service and taken on extra staff to cover out-of-hours.
"If we had the vote again, I hope we would be more careful."
David Colin-Thome, the government's primary care tsar, said NHS managers were trying to make the system more efficient.David Colin-Thome, the government's primary care tsar, said NHS managers were trying to make the system more efficient.
He added: "We have invested record amounts in out-of-hours services.He added: "We have invested record amounts in out-of-hours services.
"Patients say that they are benefiting from improvements to out-of-hours care.."Patients say that they are benefiting from improvements to out-of-hours care..
"I am surprised that the BMA continues to criticise a system that they were involved in negotiating.""I am surprised that the BMA continues to criticise a system that they were involved in negotiating."