https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrgqqjdlg4o A scheme to help GPs provide care and advice to patients without them joining long NHS hospital waiting lists is being expanded in England, the government has said. GPs will work more closely with specialists to access expert advice quickly for patients with conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, menopause symptoms and ear infections. Backed by £80m of funding, its ambition is to help two million people receive faster and more convenient care in their local community by the end of 2025/26. Health Minister Karin Smyth said the scheme would "save time and stop masses of people having to head to hospital for unnecessary appointments". The expanded scheme is part of the government's plan to cut long NHS waiting lists and create extra appointments for patients. It has pledged that 92% of NHS patients will be waiting less than 18 weeks for treatment after referral to a consultant, by the end of this parliament. Between July and December 2024, the scheme diverted 660,000 treatments from hospitals and into the community, the government says. Called 'Advice and Guidance', the scheme links GPs and hospital specialists before patients are referred onto waiting lists, so that tests and treatments can be offered in the most convenient place. For example, patients with tinnitus and needing ear wax removal often end up being referred to specialists when they could be helped outside hospitals. And women needing advice on types of HRT could be treated in local hubs, rather than waiting to see a gynaecologist. GP practices are able to claim for each time they use the scheme to shift care from hospital to the community. I wonder where they got the idea that it is possible to move patients away from the NHS?
I'm amazed that anybody is getting their earwax removed on the NHS, let alone in a hospital. GPs won't do that where I live - people have to find a private practitioner.
My prediction... This will result in some patients seeing doctors with symptoms that the doctor can't identify the cause of. The patient will continue to get worse while their symptoms continue to be dismissed. And cancer in its early stages will end up as advanced cancer because the GP will delay admission to an oncology department.
Yes, I'm amazed too. Where I live the only way of getting earwax removed is to pay for it privately, the NHS won't help.
It's horrifying, honestly. A friend has it done and it's £70 a pop and he needs it doing several times a year. His ears really hurt when the wax gets impacted. What are people with no money supposed to do?
Wouldn't planks of wood and some nails do the same job much cheaper, with no need for medically trained personnel? Or even, if money was no object, better locks and some no entry signs, believable ones, e.g. 'Danger - uncollapsed ceiling ahead'. It is relatively easy to keep millions of people out of hospitals, and far from costing money to do so, it should be possible to make money from doing so. i.e. millions of people turning up, can't get in, maybe they'd like a burger and fries instead? So changing all of the entrance portals to fast food dumps achieves both aims, prevents access and raises money for government coffers.
Which is completely crazy because people like me cannot hear at all without regular removal. I pay £80 a time but there is no good reason why people who cannot afford it should. It is basic medical care. Moreover, much the most efficient way to do it would be in a hospital unit with fast throughput rather than spend a lot of money on safe and efficient vacuum apparatus in health centres.
And tinnitus needs to be assessed with an audiogram and a clinical history from someone who understands acoustic neuromas. So that is definitely hospital job. Since hospitals are in the community anyway I cannot see what on earth this is supposed to achieve. Presumably it will now take ten years to see your GP rather than five.
I like my earwax - it’s a much welcome natural soundproofing. But I didn’t like it before I got sick!
And what are they going to do with those? CBT? They don't know how to treat those, because the medical profession isn't trying to solve them, don't find them important. Of course it's going to be CBT.
Errr, so already cant get a GP appointment, not enough GPs.... so heres a good idea... lets give the ones we have, A LOT more to do. That'll help. The only people this will help is the gov't waiting list targets.
My sister used to work as a nurse at a GP surgery until about 5-6 years ago. She said they are already overwhelmed doing stuff for hospitals that they aren't paid for. This came up in discussion just 2 weeks ago when I was last at the hospital and the consultant said he couldn't ask my GP to do a specific blood test (even at the same time as routine ones I have done by her) as I've opted to go out of area (Devon rather than Somerset). My sister (who drives me to my hospital appointments) told me that about 80% of blood tests that were being done at her GP practice (in Somerset) were for the local hospital, but the GPs weren't paid for doing them. Consequently many GP practices are refusing to do them now, patients have to go to the hospital. Why can't GP practices actually be paid for this service? It seems beyond common sense as it's easier for patients, less pressure on hospitals, can be done by nurses in the practice etc.
Also, the NHS system is so disjointed that a hospital consultant can't even access blood test results that were done previously by the GP. Surely they should fix these sort of things first, things that only help efficiency and carry no risk of harm to patients.
