BMA Urges Patients To Make Sure Their Voices Are Heard, UK

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 19 Sep 2008 - 5:00 PDT


The BMA has today (Friday 19 September 2008) sent a new poster and leaflet to GP practices across England urging patients to take action against plans to impose GP-led health centres and polyclinics in every health region, as part of its Support Your Surgery campaign.

The poster, which also says thank-you to the 1.3 million people who signed a BMA petition against the commercialisation of primary care1, advises patients how to contact those who can influence the decision-making process in their area. Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA's GP Committee, said:

"We are very grateful to the 1.3 million patients who have shown their support for NHS general practice. However, the threat is still there and although the government has told all Primary Care Trusts they must have a new polyclinic or GP-led health centre, ultimately the decisions about where and how these will be run will be made locally.

"The patient voice should be central to this entire process and yet far too often it is being ignored. In the majority of places there hasn't been any consultation whatsoever and these plans are being rushed through at break-neck speed with no thought for their long term impact. We want all patients to find out what's going on and make sure their voices are heard as these changes will affect their local services."

On 12 June 2008 the BMA handed in a petition to 10 Downing Street signed by 1.3 million people. The wording of the patients' petition was as follows:

In the 60th year of the NHS, we the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to:

- Continue to support our existing NHS GP surgeries
- Improve services to patients by further investment in existing GP surgeries

We also urge the government to halt its plans to promote the use of commercial companies in general practice because this risks destabilising our local surgeries and threatens the comprehensive, high quality care we receive from our GPs. We don't want public funding to move from GP practices to commercial companies who are accountable primarily to shareholders rather than patients. Also we want to be treated by GPs who see us as patients, not as customers.

You can view the campaign material on the Support Your Surgery website.

British Medical Association
BMA House
Tavistock Square
London
WC1H 9JP
http://www.bma.org.uk

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