Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
GPs? right to pick up the phone and freely communicate with consultants should be protected, concludes a Government report that found evidence of hospitals ?gaming? the system to boost the number of appointments patients were expected to attend.
The review from the Cabinet Office found that patients were being inconvenienced because the lines of communication between medical professionals were not being preserved and called for this right to be protected by regulators, or enshrined in the NHS Constitution.
It also called for patients to be given the right to consultations by Skype, if GPs agreed, and for patients who move house to have the right to remain with their GP practice, irrespective of catchment area.
The review was commissioned to look at the barriers to patient choice in the NHS and found that hospitals favoured face-to-face appointments and were discouraging phone and email consultations - for which they received less revenue - even if this would save time and the patient would prefer this type of consultation.
It also found evidence that one hospital banned GPs from talking to consultants in case they discouraged them from arranging an appointment with a patient, when a quick phone call might save both patients and doctors time and create more capacity for the NHS as a whole.
http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/20001654.article
(free registration required)
The review from the Cabinet Office found that patients were being inconvenienced because the lines of communication between medical professionals were not being preserved and called for this right to be protected by regulators, or enshrined in the NHS Constitution.
It also called for patients to be given the right to consultations by Skype, if GPs agreed, and for patients who move house to have the right to remain with their GP practice, irrespective of catchment area.
The review was commissioned to look at the barriers to patient choice in the NHS and found that hospitals favoured face-to-face appointments and were discouraging phone and email consultations - for which they received less revenue - even if this would save time and the patient would prefer this type of consultation.
It also found evidence that one hospital banned GPs from talking to consultants in case they discouraged them from arranging an appointment with a patient, when a quick phone call might save both patients and doctors time and create more capacity for the NHS as a whole.
http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/20001654.article
(free registration required)