GPs say NHS reforms have harmed patient care

More than twice as many GPs think that the introduction of CCGs has been detrimental to patient care than think have improved it, a Pulse survey has revealed.

Just over a third (37%) of 592 respondents said care had got worse since the introduction of the Health and Social Care Act – which is an increase on the 32% of GPs who said it had worsened last year – while only 18% said patient care had improved since April 2013.

The survey, which was held in February, also reveals that only a quarter of respondents said that they felt more involved in commissioning decisions since the formation of CCGs than they did under PCTs, with over two-thirds (68%) disagreeing.

The findings strike a blow to the Coalition Government’s reforms, finding that two years on, GPs do not feel the key aims have been achieved.

GP leaders have said that these results show CCG board members that they must ‘face up to pressures facing GP practices’…

Read full article in Pulse 21 April 2015.