I have followed the RCGP’s ‘Put Patients First’ campaign with interest and this article frustrated me further.1 I would fully support more investment in general practice and see first-hand the difficulties we have with rising demand and more complex illness. However no-one has mentioned which services should be cut and disinvested in order to allow this percentage increase to occur? Any form of disinvestment in secondary care would impact on us as GPs, with longer waits for clinics, surgery, and investigations. We are already seeing the impact of disinvestment in mental health services, with patients potentially at risk. New funding needs to be invested in health care, the percentage that we as GPs get is broadly irrelevant. The current funding model for health care in the UK is fatally flawed and the sooner we realise that a universally free at point of service healthcare system is unsustainable, the better.
- © British Journal of General Practice 2014