Doctors don’t want rationing responsibility, finds survey
pharmafile | February 28, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Commissioning Board, NHS, NHS reforms, NHSCB, NICE, rationing
A survey of GPs in England has found that most do not want powers to ration care for NHS patients.
The finding comes from a poll conducted by Doctors.net.uk for the Nuffield Trust, and finds that most did not believe the new Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) – which will be led by GPs – should be the final arbiter of rationing decisions.
A total of 821 GPs in England replied to the survey, with just 198 saying CCGs should decide which services should be funded and which should not. Instead, 307 said the NHS Commissioning Board, a new national health service board, should make these decisions. A further 274 said elected officials should decide, while just 42 thought regional outposts of the NHSCB should have the responsibility. NICE, which currently makes recommendations on a range of health interventions, was apparently not included in the questionnaire.
The survey results seem to reflect earlier indications from GPs saying they did not want to take on responsibility for rationing. Clare Gerarda, chairman of the Royal College of GPs has said her members fear taking on rationing decisions will interfere with their primary role of caring for patients.
Nevertheless, budgetary control is the key responsibility of CCGs, the first of which are due to take control from April 2013.
The survey also found an overwhelming belief that the new system would result in greater variation in services in England – 83% of respondents saying they either agreed or agreed strongly.
Finally, respondents were split about whether the health service in England could be made “more efficient so that services funded by the NHS free at the point of use are not curtailed more than they are at present”.
Only 50% agreed (14% strongly) with 41% disagreeing, and a further 9% being unsure.
The NHS in England currently aiming to make £15-20 billion cost savings from its budget by 2015 in order to meet rising demand but without increasing funding.
The survey was commissioned to accompany the Nuffield Trust’s new report Rationing health care: is it time to set out clearly what is funded by the NHS? The report by Dr Benedict Rumbold, Vidhya Alakeson and Professor Peter Smith examines the feasibility and pros and cons of setting out explicitly the care patients are entitled to, in the form of a nationally specified NHS ‘benefits package’.
Andrew McConaghie
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