Reading Pulse's recent editorial about your survey of GP morale, it certainly captures the overall feeling among GPs on the changes in the NHS, which are going to make life more difficult not only for us, but also for patients.
I was wondering how this message could also be conveyed to the public at large. Whenever I have asked patients, they only know that GPs are going to be in charge and will be getting £60bn to do that. I am yet to find anybody who is fully aware of the fact that this change is not accepted by the majority of GPs, and is yet another policy imposed top down, along with Care Quality Commission registration and referral reduction targets.
In my experience, commissioning is a waste of time and resources that could be spent on the care of patients. All the meetings so far have been about reducing referrals and managing care with a shrinking budget.
The PCT continues to spend money on duplication and triplication of services that could be stopped immediately rather than cutting services affecting patients directly.
Is it possible your survey findings could be disseminated to the public through the media?
From Dr Krishna Chaturvedi, Southend-on-Sea, Essex
Editor's note
Thanks for your letter. It is indeed possible, and in this case they were. We released the survey results to the media, and received coverage in a number of national newspapers, including the Mirror and the Independent.
