NHS group plans to pause non-urgent GP hospital referrals
- Aug 11, 2016
- EmmaArnold
The financial pressures on the NHS is a well-documented topic at the moment and so Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are putting recovery plans in place.
St Helens CCG has revealed plans which include a proposal to temporarily suspend all non-urgent GP referrals to hospitals.
The proposal, which the CCG admit will not be popular, suggests a maximum suspension of four months to ease one of the biggest areas of financial pressure.
The CCG believe this lack of GP referrals will bring a number of benefits to hospitals such as reducing the number of patients over the busy winter months and allowing staff to concentrate on those needing urgent care.
Gill Edwards, senior clinical negligence solicitor, said:
One can only hope that the proposal put forward by St Helens CCG will be dropped once the CCG has come to its senses: to suspend non-urgent referrals to hospital for up to four months is just storing up trouble. It takes a lot for a patient to go to the GP about a problem and a GP does not refer someone to hospital lightly.
Delays in specialist appointments can mean delays in diagnosis of more serious conditions. In the long run, this causes prolonged suffering for patients and often the need for more extensive treatment which results in additional expense to the NHS.
St Helens CCG also believes the referral suspension would reduce the risk of operations being cancelled when there are less non-urgent beds available.
However, an MP in the area has argued that it wouldn't be fair for the general public to be denied access to healthcare because the local CCG has run out of money.
If you live in this area and feel strongly about these proposals, then St Helens CCG will be holding a number of engagement events where you can discuss the plans with members of the CCG. Visit www.sthelensccg.nhs.uk for updates.