CBI Attacks NHS GP Services

The Confederation of British Industry call for GP visits to be taken outside of working hours and its claims that GP visits cost british industry £1bn per annum, once again shows that employees in this country wish to simply mitigate their responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of their employees - such is the view of many trade unionists and of the BMA.

The CBI attacked GP services this week claiming that businesses lose 38m working hours and £1bn a year because employees have to visit their GP during working hours.

The CBI report said much of the lost time could be avoided if the GP system was more flexible, although it admitted some of this also included GP visits when people were sick and therefore were not a matter of access.

The report said there needed to be a "fundamental rethink" about a service which had changed little since the NHS's foundation in 1948.

It said the investment in the new contract in 2004, which led to a huge hike in salaries while at the same time allowing GPs to give up providing out-of-hours care, had not been matched by improvements in service.

In particular, the CBI called for longer opening hours in areas where there was demand, despite a recent government survey of more than 2m patients concluding that more than 80% were satisfied with access.

The group also said patients should be able to register with more than one GP practice and said pharmacists should be more involved in providing healthy living advice and treating minor ailments such as coughs and colds.

This is clearly being seen as an attack on the NHS and a demand for it's privatisation according to the BMA.

In its press release responding to the CBI attack, Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA's GPs Committee, said GP practice had changed dramatically in recent years with family doctors getting more involved in things such as diabetes and heart care.

"If CBI members think their staff are seeking medical appointments without any real cause, that seems to point to the need for a better occupational health service.

"Is it possible that the CBI is hoping that its members will be able to take part in future privatisation of the health service?"

Their press release continues:

A failure of employers to provide their staff with a proper occupational health service lies at the root of the CBI’s denigration of general practice, says the BMA today (18 Sept 07).

In a firm riposte to the CBI’s criticisms of the family doctor service, Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee, said:

"The CBI and its members should put their own house in order before trying to heap the blame on general practice. If employees lose time from work to see their doctor it is either because they are ill and need care or because their employer has insisted they get a sick-note even for a temporary illness which has passed. This abuse of the sick-note system is a waste of the time of both working people and clinicians.”

Contrary to CBI claims, general practice has changed profoundly, says Dr Buckman, with GPs now doing much of the work previously carried out in hospitals. “It is surprising the CBI fails to recognise how general practice now offers patients care for things like diabetes, heart and chest problems and many other areas for which patients used to have a hospital appointment.

"Is it possible that the CBI is hoping that its members will be able to take part in future privatisation of the health service? If the best they can do is to describe an NHS of long ago, and vent their prejudices in this way, it might have been a good idea to find out the facts first. The reason why care is not fragmented amongst a number of doctors, as they unwisely suggest, is to prevent multiple attendances and confusion between different health professionals.”

On the question of booking appointments, part of the problem for GP practices has been the need to meet Government targets for 24-hour appointments despite the evidence that these are not what many patients want. “The majority of patients have no problem booking ahead if they do not need an urgent appointment, but it is difficult to make sure you can always offer large numbers of 24-hr appointment and still have enough left to allow forward booking. GPs are working to improve things for their patients,” said Dr Buckman.

He commented: “If the CBI really wishes to change things for their employees, a good starting point would be to talk to the people providing care to see if things can move forward. If its members think their staff are seeking medical appointments without any real cause, that seems to point to the need for a better occupational health service. Many employers seem to regard their sick employees’ time as their own. It isn't. NHS general practice is there to treat patients and their care is what comes first and last.”

However, the Government seems to support once again the needs of business in deference to that of the workforce.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson acknowledged the CBI had a point.

"The days of nine to five and closed at weekends and sometimes closed during the week... has to change. We need a health service for the 21st century."

Access to GP care will be one of the central themes of the NHS review being carried out by Health Minister Lord Darzi, a practicing surgeon, who kick-started the public consultation side of the review on Wednesday with nine citizen juries meeting for the first time.

He will also be hosting a conference in the next few weeks that will look at improving patient access, such as locating GPs in gyms and supermarkets, with companies including Virgin, Boots, Bupa and Lloyds Pharmacy due to attend.

NHS staff, patients and members of the public will discuss the future of the NHS in England when "citizens' juries" meet for the first time later.

Meetings will take place in nine regions and involve about 1,000 people as part of the review led by Sir Ara Darzi, a minister and surgeon.

Alan Johnson was also forced to defend the review which comes just two years after previous health secretary Patricia Hewitt carried out a nationwide public consultation involving patient summits.

"This is not just a listen and learn event. It's more engage and involve."

But Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "No-one really has any confidence in consultations nowadays because so often they amount to nothing more than a sham."

The Conservatives said that on past form, ministers do not listen but press on with their own agenda.

The mere fact that the government is talking about having GPS attend supermarkets and other business outlets, and is involving the private sector in its deliberations, shows the extent to which the BMA view may well be correct - a future privatisation of GP services to begin with swiftly followed by the NHS as a whole. We already have some North West community GP services being provided by american private companies, despite the wishes of the patients in the areas concerned.

Source: BBC News Online, BMA

Designed, Hosted and Maintained by Union Safety Services