Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia – improvements to health and care
In this blog Alistair talks about one strand of the Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6q7R5thJrA&feature=player_embedded#!
Key points
Family GPs are ordered to cut number of patients referred to hospital to earn extra cash
- Fears patients are having to bear the brunt of NHS ‘efficiency savings’
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.
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.
State must pay family carers to look after elderly, say MPs
Families should be given state funding to care for their elderly relatives at home, a group of Conservative MPs has said.
By Tim Ross, Political Correspondent
7:00AM BST 02 May 2012
The current system means it is cheaper for families to put relations in the hands of local council-run care services, according to a report from the Free Enterprise Group.
The organisation said the Government could save an estimated £1.14 billion a year by funding families directly. Chris Skidmore, the MP for Kingswood, who wrote the report, said: “Where a local authority might otherwise be paying several hundred pounds a week for residential care, they could instead be offering a fraction of that to a relative to provide care themselves.”
