At 10:19 PM 6/14/98 +0000,
Trims wrote
>Interesting article in the Health Service Journal this week. I offer
>this synopsis, without prejudice, for further discussion.
>Dr Ian Trimble http://www.sherwood.demon.co.uk/
Again, without prejudice, and only as suggestions for further discussion ....
Could it be that one reason that the government has moved hastily to widen
this pilot is its ability to undermine any patient related industrial
action by GPs? Indeed even widespread resignation might be a lot less
threatening to both govt and pts if there were a telephone service
universally and readily available.
Another interesting effect of the phoneline is that it has the potential to
undermine peoples confidence in their GP. Sometimes of course GPs get it
wrong, but equally if you tell 2 different teams 2 different stories you
will get 2 different answers.
Finally, in contrast to the opening position, the helpline is not going to
automatically feed back individual patient care advice to practices. This
seems another erosion of the GP clinical record as the cornerstone record
in the NHS though I appreciate that not everyone sees this as particularly
important.
NHS Direct had features that were potentially benficial to both patients
and doctors, however the haste and manner with which it is being introduced
(almost all ambulance controlled) might be thought to raise some of these
questions which I haven't seen directly asked so far. What do others think?
JB
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