At the recent public meeting in Dorchester about the plans for delivering health care in Dorset, the Clinical Commissioning Group’s consultation document was explained.
According to speakers from The Labour Party, The Greens and UNISON, plans for delivering GP services (Primary Care), are not made clear in the consultation document. And the questionnaire which is part of this consultation has questions that seem to mask the full implications of the plans.
The Clinical Commissioning Group proposes a series of centralised ‘hubs’ across Dorset. Planned to reduce the pressure on hospitals by offering a wide range of day – care services closer to patients (such as screening, testing and some beds), these seem like a good idea. But what is not clear is that GPs will be working in larger groups as part of these teams, – resulting in a loss of up to 50% of surgeries.
Therefore the question about services ‘provided closer to people’s homes being better’, doesn’t include GPs. This could be misunderstood and answered differently to how a fully informed respondent might choose.
Even though changes to Primary care are not included in this consultation process, these changes might never go out to consultation.
The planned reorganisation is a result of under- funding in the NHS; treatments are increasingly expensive and demand growing as the population becomes ever older. As part of a cost cutting exercise these hubs will be expensive to adapt and many old, disabled, low income and rurally based families will find accessing fewer centralised GP surgeries extremely difficult.
Reducing trauma A&E to one for the whole of Dorset and moving consultant led maternity care and children’s wards are also alarming plans
Only more funding will save our NHS now. BUT the government plans cutting tax while doing little to collect the billions that are avoided each year.
It is important for us to participate in the consultation. But we should complete the questionnaire knowing it comes with a health warning.
Jane Burnet
