Apart from rationing (see yesterday) which is not being discussed widely, the planned movement from Secondary to Primary Care is also something that has stayed out of the public domain.
Much that the government claim that "The Department does not estimate changes in hospital bed numbers." They are well aware that there is a plan to reduce spend in secondary care (and bed numbers) and increase it in primary care.
At the same time the crisis with GP retirement is increasing. They are also transferring more and more activity to NHS Direct. For example the out of hours GP service is being put through to NHS Direct.
Anyone who knows what happens with NHS Direct knows that they almost always send people to Accident and Emergency.
We then end up with NHS direct going full circle and putting people back into Secondary Care (I had to wait 3 hours for my 4 year old's illness to be handled recently between middnight and 3am.)
I wonder sometimes where the money is actually going.
Much that the government claim that "The Department does not estimate changes in hospital bed numbers." They are well aware that there is a plan to reduce spend in secondary care (and bed numbers) and increase it in primary care.
At the same time the crisis with GP retirement is increasing. They are also transferring more and more activity to NHS Direct. For example the out of hours GP service is being put through to NHS Direct.
Anyone who knows what happens with NHS Direct knows that they almost always send people to Accident and Emergency.
We then end up with NHS direct going full circle and putting people back into Secondary Care (I had to wait 3 hours for my 4 year old's illness to be handled recently between middnight and 3am.)
I wonder sometimes where the money is actually going.
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