Dear Patient
There are serious and significant changes taking place in the NHS that will affect greatly the way in which we as your GPs have to operate. I thought it was important that you be made aware of these changes.
From 1 April 2013 responsibility for the commissioning of local health services, both in the community and in hospitals will be the responsibility of local GP's. We were not unhappy with the way things were organised previously, but this re-organisation has been imposed upon us. It was one of those "sign or resign" situations, ie we had no choice if we wanted to continue to provide GP services. The immediate effect that this has had is that the local group of GP's, known as Nottingham North and East Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), has developed an overspend. Put simply, we are spending more money on patient care than we are allowed. We have been told that we, at Park House, along with many other practices in Nottinghamshire, have to reduce costs immediately. Specifically, what this means is that we are being compelled to reduce referrals to specialists in hospital, reduce A&E attendances, and reduce hospital admissions. This is in fact a subject we have been grappling with for the last few years. But it seems our best efforts have not been enough. Four million pounds has to be saved in the next 12 months. Although we have tried as a clinical team to reduce unnecessary hospital visits whenever possible it now seems we have to go even further.
What this means to you, our patients, is that you may no longer be entitled to a hospital doctor's opinion even if you, and we, think it appropriate. You may no longer be entitled to your operation if it is deemed to be an unnecessary expense. We currently do not believe we request treatment for our patients when it is not necessary. Delaying or avoiding hospital investigations will inevitably put our patients at greater risk. As doctors and nurses we believe we are being pushed beyond the point of safety. In other words, we are being asked to take risks with your health in order to save money.
We are not at all happy with this situation and will do whatever we can to maximise your care and reduce risk. However it has been proposed by the CCG that they in future will scrutinise all hospital referrals we make and reject those they think unnecessary. We were told that the creation of CCG's would give GP's more control. In fact it is doing the exact opposite. Control of clinical care is being removed from us.
We need your help. Please, when discussing possible hospital care with your GP or nurse, bear in mind that we have to balance your needs against the cost of any proposed procedure or specialist opinion. We work for you, but in this respect, our hands are being tied. If you are unhappy with this development, please let us know. Write to tell us how the changes are affecting you. Write to your MP. Let them know what effect these cuts in frontline services in the NHS are having to real people with real medical problems.
Thank you for your support in these difficult times.
Yours sincerely
Dr Ian Campbell
On behalf of the Park House Centre
