Government Needs To Loosen Its Grip And Allow Primary Care To Take The Lead

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 10 Sep 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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The NHS needs to shift the focus from hospitals and secondary care waiting times on to primary care, if it is to survive the hard economic climate, says the NHS Alliance.

In his presentation to the Westminster Health Forum today, Dr Michael Dixon, chairman, NHS Alliance, will say that the Government and the Department of Health need to recognise primary care's leading role at a time of economic instability.

"They need to work harder to re-engage frontline clinicians with the needs of the wider NHS, which go way beyond individual consultations with their patients.

"This will only happen if the Government is prepared to loosen its grip to allow a greater degree local accountability. Also, by encouraging local co-ownership, with patients as friendly critics, co-commissioners and co-providers will be able to work together to create a local health services that is much better suited to the needs of the local population."

The NHS Alliance believes that a sustainable NHS needs to move care closer to the patient and reduce the need for expensive technological care.

"McKinseys has estimated that 40% of patients don't need to be in hospital beds. So we need to ensure that secondary care is used appropriately," says Dr Dixon. "We can only achieve that if we focus on primary care as an alternative provider of medical services.

"Although changes to general practice have often been prescribed, it is crucial that there is also organic change, which encourages the integration of different services and boost up the skills mix within practices."

Patients participation groups are also invaluable as they allow patients to influence service design and delivery. "In fact, influencing the way a practice works may be as important as patients having the choice of which practice they can register with," concludes Dr Dixon.

Source
NHS Alliance

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