So here is the news, or at least someone’s version of it.
A third of GPs believe patients should be charged for some A&E visits, while most think Government changes will do nothing to alleviate current pressures, according to a poll for the Press Association.
One in three (32%) family doctors said introducing patient fees for some visits would be the most cost-effective way of cutting unnecessary A&E attendances.
Charging patients £5 or £10 every time would stop many people visiting A&E at the “drop of a hat”. Refunds could then be given if the trip was found to be necessary.
More than 800 GPs from across England answered the survey for Doctors.net.uk, carried out for the Press Association.
This “story” has been widely reported in the media today including in the news we get from Sky and the headlines we read out here on Phoenix FM. It’s not often that I take exception to news reports but this one is so obviously a blown up piece of propaganda that I can’t resist.
I should state that this is purely my own opinion.
So “A third of GPs believe patients should be charged for some A&E visits” Presumably then two thirds (the vast majority) of GPs do not believe that patients should be charged for some A&E visits… Why is this not the headline of the story?
“ the most cost-effective way of cutting unnecessary A&E attendances.” Really? A whole new layer of NHS bureaucracy collecting fees and refunding necessary visitors? And what is the true scale of the problem? Has any study been done as to numbers? I don’t know anyone who ends up “visiting A&E at the “drop of a hat”” Last time I “dropped my hat” I just picked it up, because I didn’t have four or five hours to waste waiting to be seen in A&E, and I believe most people are the same.
Yes there will always be some people who abuse services of all kinds and that needs to be addressed, but I’m not convinced that if there is a major problem here, it is all caused by feckless individuals wasting A&E time.
The problem in my view is far more likely to be caused by the inability of Primary Care Services to cope with the demand from patients, thus pushing the problem down the line to A & E. I don’t claim to be an expert on the NHS but I can identify when we are being fed manure by the press. Yes it was the Press Association that commissioned this report, and it seems to me that it is purely an attempt to soften the public up for more privatisation of the NHS. Journalism at it’s worst and part of the reason I never buy national newspapers.
Well I believe we are all a bit smarter than that. What do you think? Please answer below.
OK rant over!