12th October 2016
We are appalled to read details of a leaked document, in which a senior NHS official has said vulnerable practices must ‘ be allowed to fail and wither’, if unable to transform.
We applaud the investigative journalism of Pulse Magazine and the BBC in publishing this information. It is high time the harmful rhetoric of ‘failing practices’ is challenged. The public deserves to be shown the truth; that general practice is suffering ‘death by a 1000 cuts’. It is clear that those responsible for ensuring patients have a GP to turn to, have little interest in fulfilling their duties.
In June 2015 the Secretary of State for Health announced a £10million support programme for practices in difficulty: The Vulnerable Practices Fund. Needless to say little of this money has reached the practices that need it. More recently the 2016 GP Forward View announced financial help for General Practice. But this help is not the needed additional money into GP’s core contract. The need for this monetary assistance was made clear by the Chief Executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens. In his words ‘ if general practice fails the whole NHS fails’. It is clear from today’s announcement that Mr Stevens’ colleagues are prepared to let that failure happen.
With recent reports of actual and threatened practice closures in Bridlington, Banbury and Lincolnshire (to name but a few) the need for meaningful action to stabilise general practice has never been more acute.
We predict that this situation will only get worse. As per our previous joint statement we have absolutely no confidence in the promised money laid out in the GPFV reaching practices. This is particularly the case in the £56 million resilience programme, which takes over from the aforementioned Vulnerable Practices Fund.
We need to stop the assault on practices, and the pressure from the centre to ‘transform’ before they have had a chance to stabilized. We also ask for NHSE officials to take full responsibility for all at-risk practices and act immediately to support them