One GP's Protest

A question for the BBC, but journalists in England as well.

On March 20, 2014 a research team at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, headed by Professor Nicholas Mays, published their report on the Government pilot on patients registering with GP practices at a distance from where they live.

The afternoon before I was contacted by BBC London 94.9 asking if I would comment on the policy the next morning. Here is the interview:

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I said in the interview that as the policy was actually implemented the problems would become evident; I said that it would be ‘a mess’.

The scheme was meant to start in October 2014. At the last minute, NHS England announced that they were going to delay the implementation. Why?

A spokesperson for NHS England, said: ‘This has been an ambitious piece of work designed to increase the flexibility that patients have in choosing their GP. With such a change, we have to be completely assured that robust arrangements are in place across the country should patients who register with a GP outside their area need urgent in-hours primary medical care at or near home.

‘This has been a big undertaking and we have taken the decision that more time is needed to ensure these arrangements are fully bedded-in – a decision that has been taken in the best interests of GP practices and patients.’  (my emphasis)

The policy was implemented (very quietly) on 5 January 2015. The only media report or comment I could find was a post on the ConservativeHome blog.

I subsequently found out that ‘robust arrangements’ were not in place across the country, and the worst affected was London where there are NO ARRANGEMENTS in place. For details, see my piece in Pulse, and a subsequent Pulse article.

I wrote to Jeremy Hunt about this, copied to various media outlets, including BBC London 94.9. And yet this story has not been reported in the mainstream press. I also wrote to NHS England and NHS England London, and the CQC, the King’s Fund, the Patients Association, and the Nuffield Trust. I have not heard from Jeremy Hunt, the Department of Health, or NHS England; in fact, I have not heard from anyone.

Since September 2009 when Andy Burnham announced this policy at the King’s Fund, the press has reported only the positive sounding spin coming from the politicians, entrepreneurs, and the Department of Health, and have been universally silent about the numerous problems inherent with this policy. It is as though there is a news blackout…

Why?