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Jeremy Hunt, come to my surgery and tell me I don't know my patients Jeremy Hunt, come to my surgery and tell me I don't know my patients
(4 months later)
I invite Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, to visit my surgery. He might learn something. We like to think we offer a very personal, family-orientated service, where I rarely have a patient in front of me I haven't met on many occasions. And yes, Mr Hunt, I do know their names and also those of their partners and children, and often grandchildren. Even where they last went on holiday, let alone personal medical problems and details. Anyone who wants an appointment that day gets one.I invite Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, to visit my surgery. He might learn something. We like to think we offer a very personal, family-orientated service, where I rarely have a patient in front of me I haven't met on many occasions. And yes, Mr Hunt, I do know their names and also those of their partners and children, and often grandchildren. Even where they last went on holiday, let alone personal medical problems and details. Anyone who wants an appointment that day gets one.
What is really annoying are the constant attacks on primary care by the very people who are responsible for the mess we are in, such as Hunt and his predecessors.What is really annoying are the constant attacks on primary care by the very people who are responsible for the mess we are in, such as Hunt and his predecessors.
Apparently, family doctors are to face Ofsted-style inspections, overseen by a new chief inspector of general practice, to secure "safe and responsive care".Apparently, family doctors are to face Ofsted-style inspections, overseen by a new chief inspector of general practice, to secure "safe and responsive care".
In a speech he's due to make to the King's Fund health thinktank on Thursday, the content of which is reported in newspapers today, Hunt tries to blame the stripping away of the 24-hour responsibility from general practice in 2004. Six years later the NHS wasn't even an election issue, and had the highest satisfaction ratings ever. I don't remember calls for a reversal of policy then. Three years of this coalition government and the NHS is in the news every day. Hunt has to blame someone and deflect from what his policies are doing, so why not blame the workers?In a speech he's due to make to the King's Fund health thinktank on Thursday, the content of which is reported in newspapers today, Hunt tries to blame the stripping away of the 24-hour responsibility from general practice in 2004. Six years later the NHS wasn't even an election issue, and had the highest satisfaction ratings ever. I don't remember calls for a reversal of policy then. Three years of this coalition government and the NHS is in the news every day. Hunt has to blame someone and deflect from what his policies are doing, so why not blame the workers?
Politicians have a cheek when they don't even understand the very important concept of continuity of care. If they did, why have policies that have resulted in it becoming impossible? Groups such as the elderly and young need that continuity of seeing the same doctor. So why is it government policy to let private companies buy and run GP surgeries on the cheap, using locums who are rarely seen again? Why did they introduce the NHS 111 service before it was ready? It frequently gets the patient's surgery, address and other details wrong, let alone their name. Why was NHS Direct, which had its faults but was certainly better than what we have now, abolished? Why is work formerly done by hospitals being dumped on GPs when they are already at breaking point? Even Hunt recognises this, otherwise why does he describe us as "mini A&Es" ?Politicians have a cheek when they don't even understand the very important concept of continuity of care. If they did, why have policies that have resulted in it becoming impossible? Groups such as the elderly and young need that continuity of seeing the same doctor. So why is it government policy to let private companies buy and run GP surgeries on the cheap, using locums who are rarely seen again? Why did they introduce the NHS 111 service before it was ready? It frequently gets the patient's surgery, address and other details wrong, let alone their name. Why was NHS Direct, which had its faults but was certainly better than what we have now, abolished? Why is work formerly done by hospitals being dumped on GPs when they are already at breaking point? Even Hunt recognises this, otherwise why does he describe us as "mini A&Es" ?
My patients have almost given up seeking advice and getting care out-of-hours because of the mess the politicians have made of the service. They feel they have nowhere to go except A&E and apparently that's the GPs' fault.My patients have almost given up seeking advice and getting care out-of-hours because of the mess the politicians have made of the service. They feel they have nowhere to go except A&E and apparently that's the GPs' fault.
I doubt Hunt won't accept my invitation, as it won't fit with his ideology. Privatisation is breaking the NHS into millions of little fragments, so chickens are coming home to roost.I doubt Hunt won't accept my invitation, as it won't fit with his ideology. Privatisation is breaking the NHS into millions of little fragments, so chickens are coming home to roost.
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