Herefordshire Primary Care supportive action
The BMA (British Medical Association) is the body who represent, support and negotiate on behalf of all UK doctors (and therefore GP Practices).
You may or may not be aware of the current work going on with the BMA who are negotiating with the government regarding the funding (or lack of) coming into General Practice. The funding that then pays for our staff and resources to provide the care to you, our patients.
There are plans for joint action across surgeries nationwide. It is important to note that this is not industrial (strike action).
Instead it is resetting the current working arrangements and sticking to what we have been commissioned to do, instead of taking on additional work from external sources which impairs our ability to get on and focus on the direct care of the patients in Cradley.
All the partners and practice managers of Herefordshire practices met together last week. A decision was made that all practices would write individually to the ICB (who are our commissioning body) this week to inform them that as of 1st August we would be ‘re-setting’ and working to safe working practices as per the BMA guidelines.
As patients we hope you won’t notice any obvious differences in relation to how the surgery runs.
The main areas we are focusing on is surrounding what is called an advice and guidance pathway (a system which sometimes prevents referrals into the hospital and asks the GP’s to manage and arrange the investigations, and sometimes manage concerns which would have traditionally been consultant led) and ensuring that hospital work is done by the hospital where appropriate.
Thank you for supporting us in ensuring we fight for the survival of general practice as a whole.
“Cradley surgery is run for the benefit of our patients . We work hard and always endeavour to do the best we can for all of our patients and staff alike . We would really value your support to keep Cradley surgery at the heart of the community , allowing us to carry out your healthcare for many, many years to come. 30p a day per patient is not sustainable”