Gordon Brown’s mendacity on the Today programme was breathtaking. I will leave others to comment on his deception about the tax burden. But then he said that he had increased GP's hours and made them “more available” to patients. I can comment on that. Weasel words. The new programme has not yet started. PCTs are only now sending out details of the government’s proposals; a set of complex rules and regulations issued in the normal top-down way which will force us to work in a protocol driven, inflexible and inefficient manner. It is a complex issue but basically GPs wil be compelled to offer out of hours appointments to those who need them least and at the same time be prevented from offering them to patients who need them most (full explanation here). This is for polyclinics, not for professionals.
If GPs meet the letter of the law (there is no spirit behind it) then we may be notionally more available but in reality we will see fewer patients. Whilst the patients and the taxpayer suffers, the government will continue to say that they have improved the service. It beggars belief.
