Reasons to be miserable: appraisal, revalidation, commissioning, constitutions, duty of candour, complaints, defence body fees, vitamin D, privatisation, pathways, fragmentation, ‘GP to chase up’, Noctors, admission avoidance, referral gateways, pensions, Daily Mail, duty of candour, cuts, Hunt, Friends and Family test, telehealth, workload, Section 75, 111, QOF, CCG, CQC, CSA, OOH, DES, MMR, CPD, GMC, PMS, etc…
At least, we thought, things can’t get any worse. After all, what else could go wrong? It’s not as though they can stop paying us! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Get this. Our monthly statements are bringing home the grim reality of a loss of QOF points in the form of a cut in aspiration payments, something we knew about but couldn’t quite believe.
That’s bad enough. But also the money we actually are entitled to receive each month is stuck in some God-knows-where transitional pipeline, resulting in some pretty significant cash flow problems which can’t be solved by a quick call to a friendly finance officer because no one knows who or where they are any more.
Which means we’re grappling with all those things in the ‘reasons to be miserable’ list. For nothing. Fantastic.
So we’re wading through crap while someone pours more crap over our heads, but it no longer pays the mortgage.
What next? Will the DH decide to send someone round to punch us in the face every week? Look, it could happen. And don’t blame me that you read it here first.
Dr Tony Copperfield is a GP in Essex. You can email him at tonycopperfield@hotmail.com and follow him on Twitter @DocCopperfield.
