The chairman of the British Medical Association has told his members that “another year has been wasted” in efforts to implement the National Programme for IT.
In his keynote address to the BMA’s annual representative meeting (ARM) Mr James Johnson claimed that doctors were being marginalised in all aspects of system reform and that Connecting for Health was the obvious example of that.
He added: “Last year at the ARM, I criticised the failure to engage with clinicians. There are some very good doctors involved with the project now, but overall I would have to say that another year has been wasted because doctors are still not at the heart of determining how the systems should work.”
Later this week members are due to debate a motion calling for all doctors and their families to request that their details are withdrawn from the NHS spine because of confidentiality concerns, following a similar motion that was passed at the GPs’ local medical committees’ conference this month.
Other motions that will be considered by BMA representatives include a call for Connecting for Health to give greater consideration to patient safety and a claim that the ability of patients to keep some of their medical information confidential from other doctors could lead to “significant patient safety concerns and potential harm to patients.”
A survey on patient choice commissioned by the BMA ahead of its annual meeting this week found that 55% of people believe the NHS does not offer choice.
When asked how to rate how important a series of NHS choices were to them, the 1077 who took part placed “a choice to have a say in things generally” as their top priority followed by timing of treatment which 69 % of patients rated very important, choice of GP and type of treament.
Lower down the priority list came choice of specialist, choice of hospitals, where the treatment takes place and types of health professional.
Mr Johnson said “patient choice is on the lips of every politician and drives the NHS reform agenda” but that it was striking that most patients did not think the NHS offered choice .
He added: “There is clearly an appetite amongst the public to be given choice and for having a say in the NHS. On specific choice issues, the public rates the timing of their treatment and choice of family doctors substantially higher than choosing between hospitals or where the treatment takes place.”
In his keynote address Mtr Johnson called for an end to the “supermarket attitude to choice and competition in the NHS” which he claimed would lead to an American healthcare model which would not work in the UK.
He added: “ In America, people with health insurance have loads of choice and lots of competition. But is it keeping prices down? No, prices are rocketing up. Is it keeping quality high? No. There is more variability in US healthcare than anywhere. The very last thing the UK should do is go for the American model of healthcare.”
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