The Problem

The NHS is in dire straits and major action needs to be taken to save it.

 Why is major action required?

The NHS is grossly underfunded and can no longer provide a reasonable service across the nation.

Money alone cannot solve the situation because past underfunding means that the current shortage of doctors cannot be corrected quickly enough.

The provision of hospital services will have to undergo major changes.

Finally, the Government insists that the extra funding it will provide for the NHS must be accompanied by changes in the way all other health services is provided.

The Practice’s Response to the Government’s Challenge

Having read the information above about the NHS problems, you may feel that the future for the NHS is bleak. However, the Practice believes that the NHS will survive its current crisis and be stronger than ever in the future.

The main reason for our belief is that there is now broad agreement that the problems mentioned above are real and must be solved. The standard Government response for years has been “Crisis, What Crisis?” but this has now changed.

Working with the medical profession, the Government has identified many changes whereby the public should receive a faster response from the NHS with care that is also safer, more effective and of good value. The Government accepted that to achieve its aims the NHS needs a major increase in funding, promised to incorporate this in the comprehensive spending review and is now in the process of fulfilling that promise.  

Your practice believed that the Government would keep its promise so we undertook a review of the primary care services we provide. We have had discussions with medical colleagues, nurses, office staff, NHS managers, politicians and patients. Patients asked for swift access to local health care facilities, less waiting for all NHS facilities including hospital services and also better provision of health care information. Hospitals wanted GPs to free up their resources by carrying out follow up of many medical conditions in local surgeries and to agree protocols for new referrals as well as follow ups.  

Lichfield residents have for a long time had an advantage over many communities. Local GPs already provide a lot of follow ups that are carried out at general hospitals in other areas. (The Victoria hospital is a GP hospital and is a crucial part of local health care provision). However, we are already seeing patients in surgery at a rate of 1 every 7 to 8 minutes so scope for further reduction in patients having to travel to hospitals seemed limited.  

By talking through the issues with all parties involved in primary care, we have designed a service that will form the framework for future health care provision. As it also fulfils the Government’s requirement regarding cost effectiveness, we should be in a strong position to negotiate for the extra funding that the new model requires. As the new service builds on this framework an accessible, modern and dependable NHS will result which increasingly delivers a more patient centred health care. The following are some of the many changes that are occurring:

Quicker access to health care provided by the most appropriate professional.

Emergencies and epidemics will still disrupt the service because they cannot be foreseen. The most appropriate professional is the one whose training allows effective safe care. For example, with increased access to laboratory and X-ray facilities, many conditions currently being followed up at hospital can be dealt with by GPs. We are also working with consultants to develop shared care protocols for other conditions. In these cases the time consuming visits to hospital will be significantly reduced.

Patients want more information about health issues.

Finally, a Patient Participation Group has been set up so that there is regular patient input to the practice guiding our services in addition to the feedback received through the website.