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Thursday, 17 April 2025

Rewiring



Plan to divert millions of patients from waiting lists with GP service expansion


A scheme which allows family doctors to seek advice from specialists before referring patients will be expanded with the support of an £80 million funding package...

It follows an announcement in January that GPs would be offered £20 every time they consult a specialist using the scheme

Health minister Karin Smyth said: “By caring for patients closer to home, we save time and stop masses of people having to head to hospital for unnecessary appointments in the first place.

“We are rewiring the NHS so that we are doing things differently, more efficiently and delivering better outcomes for patients.



That's another undefined political term to add to the list - rewiring. Not turbocharged rewiring of course - not for the NHS. For some reason I keep thinking of pianos though, can't imagine why that is. 

It may not be long before GPs consult an AI system instead of a specialist, but experience suggests that may not equate to a saving of £20 per consultation.

4 comments:

dearieme said...

Be fair, financial incentives for GPs work a treat. Want more diagnoses of diabetes? Pay per diagnosis. It's worked really well. Covid jabs? Ditto. Presumably flu jabs too?

Google's AI says "including specific diagnoses like dementia, managing chronic diseases (like diabetes and asthma), and providing enhanced services like flu jabs or childhood immunizations". It goes on to mention the prescribing of statins.

James Higham said...

Seems there are two options for us ... stay healthy or they euthanise us.

djc said...

So, that's twenty quid for a referral, -> lots more referrals -> system clogged-up with useless referrals -> real problems missed

A K Haart said...

dearieme - yes it has worked a treat, pushing mass medication shows how active they can be when it comes to piece work.

James - it's certainly a strong incentive to stay healthy. Coffee, dark chocolate, jazz and old films seem to help.

djc - that's it and there appears to be no anti-clog system in there apart from specialists not answering the phone. Unless the budget is capped, in which case we'll see endless stories about how unfair that is.