Primary Care Groups
So, just what exactly is all this on about? Well, it
is all to do with how the government decides who in the health
service gets what amount of money. First, perhaps, a bit of a
history lesson is called for.
In the years before the Thatcher Government, the NHS
pretty much ran itself under the control of local health authorities
who decided how much money they would allocate to hospitals each
year . Depending on the amount of money the hospitals had to spend,
they could either do lots of operations and clear their waiting
lists, or not many and get a long waiting list. Funds to pay for
operations all came our of the funds of the local health authority.
When Margaret Thatcher and co came to power, they invented
a new system. Instead of the money to pay hospitals going directly
from the government, via the health authority, to the hospitals,
they decided to let some GP practices decide how the money was
spent. Instead of passing its allocation of money direct to the
hospital, the money went to the `fundholding` practices as a `fund`
that they could spend on their own patients. As an example, suppose
you needed a hip replacement op; the money to pay for this would
come out of your practice`s `fund` and be paid, by the practice
to the hospital. The amount of money each practice was given was
limited so that, for example, it could not pay lots of money to
the hospitals so that all its patients were operated on.
Are you with me so far?....well here comes the next
bit. The latest plan by the current government, Primary Care Groups,
or PCG`s for short.
In this plan, all the GP`s in a local area are gathered
together in a group. In the case of Shepway, all the Shepway GP`s
are in a group together. This group of GP`s is then given a fund
of money to spend in local hospitals as it chooses. If, for example,
the group decides it will spend all its money on hip operations
it can do so...but that may mean that it has no money left to
spend on other operations. The groups will never be given enough
money to buy all the things their patients need so it is up to
the group to decide its priorities. Sceptics suggest that this
is a sneaky way for the government to get out of the blame for
underfunding the NHS...ahah they might say, its not our fault
you cannot have you cataract done, your local group has decided
it is going to spend all its cash on knee surgery.... Enthusiasts,
however, say that this system will allow local Doctors to choose
how health service cash is spent.
Just who is on these groups? Well, not only Doctors
(who incidentally will have less time to see patients as they
will now have to attend meetings of the group all the time) but
also nurses, health authority members and even members of the
public. When is all this happening? Right now!!! Well, if you
were not aware of that then perhaps after reading this you know
a little more? If you have bothered to read all the way to here
you certainly deserve something!
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