Category Archives: hospital

Family GPs are ordered to cut number of patients referred to hospital to earn extra cash

May 2, 2012   Carers, hospital
  • Fears patients are having to bear the brunt of NHS ‘efficiency savings’

By Sophie Borland

PUBLISHED: 00:02, 2 May 2012 | UPDATED: 08:31, 2 May 2012

 

Family doctors are being ordered to slash the numbers of patients they send to hospital to earn extra cash.

Six out of ten GPs said they face ‘inappropriate’ pressure to refer fewer patients and potentially deny them the best care.

The controversial scheme can pay out almost £9,000 a year to surgeries.

GPs could get extra cash for not sending patients to hospitals for treatment

It started last May when ministers brought in a series of targets enabling GPs to  be rewarded for cutting the number of patients sent to hospital specialists or A&E departments.

However, a poll of 667 doctors found that 60 per cent were facing ‘inappropriate demands’ from managers.

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NHS patients encouraged to give feedback about care on revamped website

April 3, 2012   Carers, hospital, internet

Patients in Shetland are being encouraged to write about their experiences of health care, good and bad, on NHS Shetland’s revamped website which has just gone live.

April 3rd, 2012 by

In future some patients and carers may be invited to tell their stories on tape, video or in person to the NHS board, which manages health services in Shetland.

The new independent feedback system, called Patient Opinion, started in a low-key way in January, prompting only six responses so far by email, phone and letter. Five were complimentary and the other conveyed ideas for improvements.

Patient Opinion is a non-profit service independent of NHS Shetland and the NHS which confidentially handles each “story” about a person’s experience of the NHS, including what was good and what could have been better.

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NHS reforms: what do they mean for patients?

April 3, 2012   Carers, hospital, ukcuts

It is difficult to gauge what effects the Health and Social Care Act will have, and potential gains are mostly unreliable

 

The top request of National Voices members was for the integration of health and social care.

It is difficult to predict what effect the new Health and Social Care Act will have on patients, service users and carers. The bill was like a giant treatment decision, with the benefits uncertain and the risks considerable.

National Voices, a coalition of health and social care charities, has found it impossible, during the last year, to gauge accurately how the act’s provisions would affect direct patient care and treatment. Hence there could be no simple “for or against” position on the bill – but there was a lot of pushing to improve it.

Among members of National Voices, the strongest concerns have been that: localisation will exacerbate inequalities and social exclusion; gains from successful national strategies and frameworks will be at risk; and the needs of patients with less common conditions will not be identified and responded to by GP commissioners with low awareness.

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