Don't Trust Me - I'm Your GP

Let’s move from the hospital to the GP surgery. Imagine going to see your doctor and not fully trusting what he says – it wouldn’t be ideal. The Government’s health policy will dramatically change the relationship you have with your GP. It will force your doctor to be part of a consortium taking financial decisions about your healthcare. And you might be left wondering, “Am I talking to a doctor or an accountant? Is this referral the best thing for me, or the best thing for the surgery’s budget? Have I really been offered the best choices?” Your GP will hold the purse strings of the NHS – if the local hospital closes wards because it hasn’t got enough business, you’ll know who to blame. Would you still trust your doctor?

But it goes further. Imagine going to your GP surgery and finding out it has been taken over by a huge private American healthcare corporation like UnitedHealth. It’s happening all over the country right now. Imagine you want to see your doctor, but increasingly you’re finding they will only offer you an appointment with a nurse. Nurses are cheaper than doctors, and private companies have to cut costs to make profits for their shareholders. What if the nurse misses vital clues that the doctor would have picked up, and your health condition goes un-diagnosed?