London GPs told to restrict specialist referrals under new NHS 'rationing' plan

[Northerner]

Plans for new cuts sent same day Boris Johnson reinforced NHS spending commitments.

GPs will be urged against referring patients to hospital specialists and consultants, and some outpatient appointments will be axed, as part of a controversial programme of NHS “rationing” to be introduced in London.

Health chiefs hope the programme, which will affect millions of Londoners, will plug a gaping hole in healthcare budgets by saving more than £60m in the next few months.

The sweeping changes, some of which will take effect immediately, will affect essential hospital care rather than treatments sometimes considered more peripheral. They include significantly reducing referrals to consultants, axing some outpatient appointments and replacing them with a phone conversation, and urging GPs to find “alternative ways” of dealing with patients who need hospital referrals.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/sep/08/london-gps-told-to-restrict-specialist-referrals-under-new-nhs-rationing-plan

 

[grovesy]

I read this last night and have to say it did not totally suprise me. Though it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Though it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

It sounds like a good answer to the question "How do we make being a GP even less attractive?"

 

[mikeyB]

The whole point of a hospital referral is that many investigations can’t be ordered by GPs to bottom out a diagnosis, or the diagnosis and treatment is outwith the skill set of the GP. I suspect conditions like T1 diabetes will be the first to be flagged up for this daft idea.

Good job they are only experimenting on Londoners.

It’s actually a practice run for setting up routine private referrals, just wait and see. Or is that too cynical?