REPRESENTING GP INTERESTS

By The College
Contact the author by e-mail at christopher.johnstone@ntlworld.com

The College in Scotland was asked to give evidence to the Health Committee on the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill, which will provide the necessary legislative changes to implement the contract in Scotland. Here are some of the key points raised:

UK Contract—although being discussed separately in Scotland, this is and should remain a UK-wide contract.

Monitoring the new contract—likely to be challenging, but quality assurance schemes do exist (such as QPA and PA) and should be used if possible to provide assurance that criteria are being met.

Out of hours—it’s fair to say that unplanned care will be delivered differently in the future. The option to opt out of out-of-hours will hopefully help with recruitment and retention, particularly in rural areas.

Enhanced services—delivery needs to be appropriate and the temptation to set up a centralised service should be resisted, particularly if a service can be delivered efficiently and effectively nearer to the patient.

Involving patients—health in an emotive issue and we should inform and engage the public throughout the implementation process to maintain the high levels of confidence in GP services.

Details of the legislation and the College’s written submission can be found on the RCGP Scotland web site:
www.rcgp-scotland.org.uk

hoolet is the magazine of RCGP Scotland. It is supported intellectually, financially and emotionally by RCGP Scotland.

This issue maintained by Robert Hallam.