GPs will be forced to offer patients private care
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《英国医生杂志》
Patients will have to be offered the option of treatment in the private sector under the government's plans to offer patients a choice of provider, it has emerged.
The news comes as a shock to many primary care trusts, which are responsible for ensuring that patients are offered four or five choices of where they can receive treatment.
The policy framework issued by the Department of Health in August, "Choose and Book"—Patient's Choice of Hospital and Booked Appointment (see www.dh.gov.uk via search facility) said the range of service providers could include NHS trusts, foundation trusts, NHS and independent sector treatment centres, independent sector hospitals, and GPs with a special interest or other extended primary care treatment services.
But a separate letter sent to strategic health authorities, seen by the Health Service Journal, states that "every should have at least one independent sector provider on its menu of four or five choices for planned hospital care for five of the ten most common procedures." It adds that the trusts should plan to spend 10-15% of their total funds on private or independent sector treatments.
A Department of Health spokesman said the letter was "not that different really" from the policy framework or previous policy.
"This does not reflect a change in policy," he said. "It is simply the logical extension of our current policy on choice and plurality. By 2008 the NHS Improvement Plan suggests that the independent sector may provide up to 15% of procedures—not just treatments—for the NHS."
The proposals are part of the move towards improving choice for patients, as part of the NHS Improvement Plan, under which patients who require an elective referral should be offered not only a choice of hospitals but also a choice of time and date for their booked appointment when they are referred for treatment by their GP or primary care professional.
The Department of Health spokesperson said that the use of the word "procedures" was intentionally broader than just routine elective operations and would, by 2008, include some diagnostic procedures, as well as treatments, which could be carried out privately.
But the latest shift of the goalposts has surprised the NHS Alliance, which represents primary care trusts. Michael Dixon, chairman of the alliance, is concerned that it undermines primary care trusts' ability to commission whoever they think best.
"The government says it has given 80% of the budget to commission. But how it should be done should be decided by the purchasers. They should be allowed to get on with the job."(Lynn Eaton)
The news comes as a shock to many primary care trusts, which are responsible for ensuring that patients are offered four or five choices of where they can receive treatment.
The policy framework issued by the Department of Health in August, "Choose and Book"—Patient's Choice of Hospital and Booked Appointment (see www.dh.gov.uk via search facility) said the range of service providers could include NHS trusts, foundation trusts, NHS and independent sector treatment centres, independent sector hospitals, and GPs with a special interest or other extended primary care treatment services.
But a separate letter sent to strategic health authorities, seen by the Health Service Journal, states that "every should have at least one independent sector provider on its menu of four or five choices for planned hospital care for five of the ten most common procedures." It adds that the trusts should plan to spend 10-15% of their total funds on private or independent sector treatments.
A Department of Health spokesman said the letter was "not that different really" from the policy framework or previous policy.
"This does not reflect a change in policy," he said. "It is simply the logical extension of our current policy on choice and plurality. By 2008 the NHS Improvement Plan suggests that the independent sector may provide up to 15% of procedures—not just treatments—for the NHS."
The proposals are part of the move towards improving choice for patients, as part of the NHS Improvement Plan, under which patients who require an elective referral should be offered not only a choice of hospitals but also a choice of time and date for their booked appointment when they are referred for treatment by their GP or primary care professional.
The Department of Health spokesperson said that the use of the word "procedures" was intentionally broader than just routine elective operations and would, by 2008, include some diagnostic procedures, as well as treatments, which could be carried out privately.
But the latest shift of the goalposts has surprised the NHS Alliance, which represents primary care trusts. Michael Dixon, chairman of the alliance, is concerned that it undermines primary care trusts' ability to commission whoever they think best.
"The government says it has given 80% of the budget to commission. But how it should be done should be decided by the purchasers. They should be allowed to get on with the job."(Lynn Eaton)