Comments on Dr Rant: 'Best doctors' are the ones that save money, not l...

Come back Harold Shipman, theres a GP who kept pat...

2008-04-24T18:00:00.000+01:00

Come back Harold Shipman, theres a GP who kept patients out of hospital

I have two solutions to make this work:If the govt...

2008-04-18T03:59:00.000+01:00

I have two solutions to make this work:
If the govt were to underwrite the litigation costs of not sending those dubious referrals to hospital
If every hospital referral were sent to your local MP first for triage - of course giving him/her a list of differentials and prognosis for each, then they can determine the risks to be taken

Of course, there is another way of reducing the referral rates to hospital - have A&E renamed as 'pre-hospital triage units' so they can be not-admitted from there before they get to 'hospital'.

I remember a wrestler called Mr. Perfect. Are they...

2008-04-17T15:04:00.000+01:00

I remember a wrestler called Mr. Perfect. Are they related?

Maybe we should take out of hours back in most pla...

2008-04-16T20:10:00.000+01:00

Maybe we should take out of hours back in most places and go back to our well run not-for-profit co-operatives which worked so well.

Unfortunately here in Scotland NHS24 now triage the calls and have caused a major headache. Previously in our co-op, experienced DNs triaged the calls and many patients were given advice for non-urgent complaints and advised to see their own practice the next day. Around 30% of calls or less were seen by a doctor.

Now NHS24 is triaging, using computer programmes and the government will not decide whether it wants out of hours for emergencies or 24 hour GMS. This has led to patients being seen who would previously been put off until the next day as they are not emergencies.

I am told that over 70% of callers see a doctor and calls are rising at 10% year on year as patients learn very quickly how a service is working.

Making us work a few booked extended hours surgeries is not going to sort this one out.

Urbain le Grandier

The modern NHS..........'hitting the target...but ...

2008-04-16T16:53:00.000+01:00

The modern NHS..........'hitting the target...but missing the point'?
Same here in Ambo land!

This has nothing to do with capitalism Doc; if a c...

2008-04-16T16:14:00.000+01:00

This has nothing to do with capitalism Doc; if a company tried this on it would very quickly find itself out of business or in the dock for corporate manslaughter.

This is a mendacious government target to save money for the almost certain level of extra lawsuits presented by people who have had relatives killed or themselves disabled due to shoddy service in the NHS; pure and simple.

Putting this in the hands of doctors cooperatives and not for profit organisations or at least devolving the process the slimy reaches of our politicians would do a lot to right this wrong.

But dont you dare blame this on capitalism; corporatism maybe but there is anything but a free market for healthcare.