Dear MPs,
I am a GP in Tower Hamlets. Of course you know there is a lot of controversy around the Health and Social Care Bill, and that the coalition government has taken pause to re-think it. Within this Bill is a proposal to allow people in England to register with the GP of their choice, anywhere in England. Apparently all 3 major parties support this idea. It sounds like a perfectly good idea, who would not like to have this choice? The trouble is in the implementation, in the actual world.
If you wanted to introduce a design fault into the system of primary care so as to undermine it (like a virus to infect IT systems), this would be a good one. Andrew Lansley has not thought this through (or if he has, he is not letting on; https://onegpprotest.org/2011/01/22/an-attempt-at-transparency-from-andrew-lansley/ ), the Department of Health has not thought it through (though they will say they have carried out a Consultation; this Consultation was really only a PR exercise, another New Labour ‘dodgy’ dossier). See the Royal of College of General Practitioner’s response to this ‘Consultation’: http://www.rcgp.org.uk/pdf/RCGP_response_DH%20-%20Your%20Choice%20of%20GP%20Practice.pdf
I am a humble GP trying to do a good job and provide a good service to our patient population. Please do not plan and implement policies which make this more difficult. I would rather you fiddled your expenses than legislate these sorts of policies. For more information, see my blog www.onegpprotest.org
Best wishes,
George
The Tredegar Practice 35 St Stephens Road London E3 5JD