Third of GPs less supportive of health bill after 'listening exercise'
More than 70% of GPs think that the Health and Social Care Bill should be scrapped, according to a new RCGP poll.
In a survey of 1,900 college members only 4% agreed that the reforms, which move to the House of Lords today, would result in better care for patients whilst over half thought that the private sector would gain.
Following the pause in the legislation to allow a ‘listening exercise' more than 93% of respondents said that they did not feel reassured by the Government's response, and more than 90% said that their support for the reforms remained either unchanged (63.5%), or that they were less supportive (29.2%).
When asked whether they personally wished to be involved on the board of a clinical commissioning group, almost 70% of respondents said that they did not.
RCGP chair Dr Clare Gerada said: ‘The survey confirms what we have been saying all along; the college has made its support for placing GPs at the heart of the health service clear, but the results of this snapshot survey are impossible to ignore, and the majority of respondents still have concerns about commercialisation, increased bureaucracy and standards of patient care that the Government has not allayed.
‘With the bill making its way through the House of Lords, it is important that peers have as much information as possible so that they can ask the relevant questions, and make informed choices about what happens next.'
'We must make sure that the reforms do not diminish the care we provide to our patients.'
