Reforms raise conflicts of interest, say GPs
pharmafile | October 25, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing | BMA, NHS, NHS reforms
Two-thirds of doctors believe that the government’s health reforms will create conflicts of interests in their jobs and undermine their relationships with patients.
The results come from a new survey by the BMA who sought the views of every GP in the UK on issues ranging from workload and morale to the potential changes happening in primary care due to the Health and Social Care Bill. The poll found that doctors still have major concerns about the reforms.
The BMA’s survey found that the new responsibilities of GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups are a particular worry for doctors, with 68% of respondents saying that their new position will create conflicts of interest in the patient-doctor relationship.
This is because they will be providing primary care for patients whilst also being responsible for much of its finances, meaning doctors will have to juggle between doing the best for patients, whilst also looking at what is best for the finances of the NHS.
The survey also found:
- Nine out of ten GPs (88%) say the intensity of their consultations has increased in the last five years
- Seventeen out of twenty GPs (84%) say the complexity of their consultations has increased in the last five years
- Three quarters (75%) of GPs in England do not agree with the proposal in the Health and Social Care Bill to link practice income to the performance of their commissioning group
- Seventeen out of twenty (85%) do not believe that practice boundaries should be abolished
Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee, said: “GPs do not want the trust patients put in them to be damaged by these reforms, yet this is exactly what they fear will happen.
“The government must take heed and further revise its plans for the quality premium in particular, to avoid any potential damage to the doctor-patient relationship.
“Much of the work we do now, such as looking after people with diabetes, used to be done in hospital and even though it’s work we want to do because of the clear benefit to patients, it has made it harder to fit a consultation into a ten-minute time slot and it can make it more difficult to deal with surges in demand,” he concluded.
DH says relationship ‘shouldn’t be compromised’
The Department of Health refused to be drawn into specifics, but said: “The first duty of doctors must always be to their ptients [sic],” adding that: “We wholeheartedly agree that this unique relationship should never be compromised.
“That’s exactly why we want to put patients at the heart of the NHS and give GPs more power and control to make the right clinical decisions on behalf of their patients.
“Our plans for clinical commissioning are about understanding patients’ needs better and providing high quality care to meet those needs.”
Ben Adams
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