Gordon is a Moron

But I know he's a moron, Gordon is a moron, Gordon is a moron, Gordon is a moron.

I'm no Jilted John, but I might as well be.

I was married to the NHS, thought I'd spend my working life with her. But no more.

The incidious, creeping dismantling of the NHS is upon us. Oh no you say,but my GP is still there. Maybe but for how long?

The door of the NHS is wedged open, not the front door so far, but the side door, the one no-one would use. The tradesmans entrance opened by the foot of big business. The land that employs the Noctor, not the Doctor.

Why blame Gordon, he's new to the job, too busy checking his donations are above board to be fiddling with Primary care. We see 90% of the patients and consume 10% of the budgets. We'll be off his radar.

But no. Gordon is a moron.

Despite his protestations that 'top down pulling the lever soloutions are not always the ones that are going to work best' he decides to unilaterally change GP's working hours.

General Practice is populated with many young professional men and women with young children. Many work flexible hours already to accomodate childcare arrangements. How will they manage to find a childminder from 6pm until 8pm.

Yes but its only 3 hours per week. This year. Year on year there will be more pressure exerted until GP's can cope no more with Gordon demands.

Soon patients will be visiting their corporate healthcare premises, to see their many practitioners but will they see a GP.

'Mummy whats a GP?'

When is a contract not a Contract ?

When it is called the GMS 2 Contract.

Signed in 2004 to define GP's conditions of work and levels of remuneration.

Signed in good faith by GP's and the Government.

When it can be unilaterally altered by one party at 3 months notice resulting in a destabilising effect to General Practice in England.

Just England?

Yes for now, for although the original contract was agreed between GP representatives and all 4 national Governments in the UK current changes will only affect England. This is a change from the basis of understanding to contract changes which were believed to have been agreed across all 4 countries, with local extra services to be negotiated locally.

The Government in England has stated that it's only priority for Primary Care in 2008/9 is to extend opening hours. It is not interested in improving quality of care which is a peculiar stance for a national government. It is actually removing incentives to improve quality of care so the net effect is to damage health care.

They want GP practices to open longer, meaning longer working hours for reception staff, nurses and doctors.

Do you want to be seen by a tired doctor at 8pm if they have been working since 8am?

GP practices are not being given additional funding to extend opening hours. So this will mean reduced access during the day, no guarantee of 24 hour or 48 hour access. Later appointments - meant to help those at work will be open to all, so if you want a late appointment then it may have been filled by those whose access during the day has been reduced to maintain an acceptable workload to keep your GP and nurses fresh to deal with your problems.

What evidence do they have to support these changes?

1. An £11 millon survey showed on average that 84% of people were happy with access to Primary Care. In my practice that was 92%.
2. The CBI do not like people taking time off work to go to the Doctors
3. Err that's it
   

Why are they doing this?

• They would not accept a cost neutral proposal for increased hours with new quality targets
• The Government wants to privatise Primary Care
• They would like large corporations to run Primary Care
• They do not care about the quality of your health

Gordon Brown will be remembered as the Labour Prime Minister who dismantled the NHS.

Aneurin Bevan must be turning in his grave.

I'm off to the Noctors

Words are always evolving, coming in and out of fashion, like catchphrases do. Homer Simpsons D'Oh has even made a dictionary! Medical terminology changes constantly, usually with the advent of new illness, new drugs or tests, or sometimes by international consent.

So when we had plain Xrays, we had not heard of Ultrasound Scans, similarly we developed CT followed by MRI and PET scanning capability. The last scan is not what you would have done at the vet's either.

New drugs appear statins ,PPI ACE-I and ARB's and we change the names of old favorites to be in harmony with our international colleagues Frusemide to Furosemide.

So it goes on constant change, progress, advances, new technology, groundbreaking, pioneering, breakthroughs, all for the good of the public of large.

So is it true?

Yeah but no, but yeah but no but anyway I was goin' to the Doctors like I normally do right, but it wasn't my fault and that Tanya from the Sunbed shop she said it'd be allright becaus she said that her Alvin had heard from Gordon and Tony that it was the right thing to do...


Nooooooo, Gordon and Tony are wrong in one respect, because soon with GP Lite:The New NHS you won't go to the Doctor, you will go and see the Noctor

So What is a Noctor?

Simply

NOt
a
doCTOR

NO undergraduate training in Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry,Dermatology, Obstetrics, Gynaecology, Ear Nose and Throat, Ophthalmology, Accident and Emergency, General Practice, Public Health
NO medical degree taking 5 years to complete
NO postgraduate experience of taking responsibility for diagnosing, prescribing, management of illnesses, a minimum of 5 years postgrauate training to reach higher grades.

Today you could, be visited at home, attend a hospital clinic or walk into a walk in centre dealing with minor illness and be treated and managed by someone who has about 13 weeks training.

I'm still learning about my job, daily. I've been a Doctor for 14, an accredited GP for 8 and have dedicated myself to my profession for19 years. Do I think I could be doing that after 3 months of training?

So I take my hat off to the Noctors. They are either exceptional talents or foolhardy dangerous practitioners, mistakes waiting to happen, the ticking time bomb of the NHS because of the lack of well grounded training.