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As you may have read the funding arrangements in the NHS are changing, giving a lot more responsibility to GPs. In Coventry there are two clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), sometimes called consortia, of GPs, which are trying to help shape how health care develops in the city.
Park-Leys is one of 41 practices in the Godiva CCG. We have taken a lead role within the group as Chris Mullett, our practice manager, is a board member, and three of our GPs are leaders in specific areas:
Chronic Conditions and Unscheduled Care: Dr Jerry HornHealth : Dr Andy Smithers’s Health: Dr Ruth Girvan.
We believe that using our experience to advise and help drive forward developments of health care is good for both the patients of Coventry, and Park-Leys. We feel that our involvement at the forefront of these changes will ensure that Park-Leys remains an innovative and vibrant practice, and one which continues to offer its' patients access to all the latest developments in primary care.
In common with all practices we have to try and save money in this financial year, to prevent the imposition of cuts to some services. Godiva is aiming to reduce practice expenditure by approximately £18 per patient, which for us at Park-Leys amounts to over £200,000. The areas that we will look at will include hospital admissions, prescribing costs and referral costs to out-patients.
Patients can help by ensuring they do not order repeat medications which they do not need and contacting the practice before attending A&E during surgery hours.
We are hosting a city-wide initiative to try and reduce emergency hospital admission from care and nursing homes.
As well as saving money (it costs over £1000 for each patient admitted by ambulance, even before any treatment is provided), patient care is improved by minimising the disruption caused by admission.
This involves a team of doctors working from Park-Leys and providing a fast response service to all homes in Coventry, for any patient that may need admission to hospital. Whilst there has to be investment to provide the service [mainly the doctors' pay], the savings made will outweigh these costs. This should provide a good example of improved patient care being associated with reduced costs.
Similarly we are to make savings from our prescribing costs, currently £1.4 million per year, by using drugs that are equally effective but less costly. We have switched people taking a drug called olmesarten for high blood pressure, to losartin, with estimated saving for the year in excess of £21,000.There are similar examples of drugs used for high cholesterol, migraines and painkillers.
The DoH has published a short information sheet for patients explaining the changes which are taking place in the NHS:
Commissioning for Patients (Dec 2010).
For patients who would like to know more detail, the White Paper, together with the BMA response and two subsequent papers can be downloaded here:
Liberating the NHS (White Paper) (July 2010)
BMA Response to the White Paper
The Operating Framework (Dec 2010)
The Legislative Framework and Next steps (Dec 2010)
As a practice we are committed to ensuring that changes in the NHS will allow us to continue to develop and deliver high quality services for our patients.
We hope that this information will help us work together with you all to continue to provide excellent care along side relationships. If you have any questions, or suggestions, please free to contact me.
Regards
Jerry Horn