Message from Andy Jinman, PPG Chair, in support of Putitng Patients First
Dear Rycote patient,
I am writing to you on behalf of the patient group (PPG) at the Rycote practice because we are very worried about the trend in funding for “general practice” (GP), in other words, our local doctors’ surgeries in the UK.
General practice is critical to us as patients
- 90% of all patient contacts in the NHS take place at the GP level
- with a population that is growing and ageing, GPs are ideally placed to deal with some of the key problems, such as the rising number of people living with more than one chronic condition
Demand is growing fast
- In the UK, for a combination of reasons (see the foot of this email**), patient consultations were up from 327 million in 2008/09 to 388m in 2013/14 and are expected to rise to 441m by 2017/18
- Locally, the Rycote practice will provide over 60,000 face-to-face, telephone and home visit contacts this year. Weekday face-to-face appointments alone have gone up 13.4% in the last 4 years from 12572 GP consultations in the first 6 months of 2010 to 14256 GP consultations in the first 6 months of 2014.
However, the funding for GP services is shrinking !
- You would assume that GP funding would be growing at this time, but no........
- Although spending on the NHS as a whole rose by 18% since 2005/06, funding for GPs has dropped by 8% over the same period
- So the GP share of the NHS “cake” has fallen from roughly 11% in 2005/06 to 8.4% now (and Deloitte predict that it will fall further to just 7.3% in 2017/18, if nothing is done)
What can you do about it ?
If you want The Rycote practice to have the funds to continue providing excellent care, please sign the RCGP* petition, which calls on Government to restore the share of the NHS budget for GPs to 11% by 2017. You can do this either:-
Thank you !
Yours faithfully,
Andy Jinman
(Rycote practice patient group)
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** Some of the reasons for the growth in patient consultations:-
- the profile of our population is ageing fast – it is estimated that the number of over-60s is set to rise by over 50% in the next 25 years
- the UK has been experiencing a “baby boom”, with 60,000 more babies born in 2012 than in 2007 – babies and young children are typically frequent users of GP services
- the number of people with more than one long-term condition, who are also amongst the most frequent users of GP services, has also been growing and is predicted to rise significantly
* Royal College of General Practitioners