The investigation was published today.
This scheme is being rolled out in Birmingham, where the Birmingham South Central CCG is offering GP practices a payment equating to over £11,000 per practice to reduce hospital referrals.
The scheme even applies to urgent cancer referrals, where patients should be seen within 2 weeks but implementation of this new scheme runs the risk that a referral might not happen at all.
The General Practitioners Committee has called the scheme “ethically questionable” and GPs have asked the General Medical Council to investigate.
Ann Houghton, specialist clinical negligence solicitor at Anthony Collins Solicitors commented;
“It is extremely concerning to learn that such a scheme even exists. We all appreciate that changes need to be made to manage the NHS budget so as to protect the NHS for future generations but patient safety must always be paramount. A line has been crossed when saving money is directly and categorically jeopardising patient safety. Such a scheme will undoubtedly risk lives. At Anthony Collins Solicitors we already help patients who have suffered because GPs have delayed referring to specialists, especially when cancer is suspected, but sadly it would seem the number of patients affected in this way is going to rise because of this scheme. It is also important to bear in mind the effect this will have on hard-working, devoted GPs who are put under pressure to cut corners and not able to provide the level of care they feel they should.”
For more information or to discuss any of the issues in this article, contact Ann Houghton.
The Prime Minister announced on Tuesday 22 September a new range of restrictions to protect us from the Covid crisis, some of which will apply to charities.
Following the end of the possession stay on 21 September, Helen Tucker & Rebecca Sembuuze from our housing litigation team discuss the most recent guidance, priority cases and what to expect in court.
Covid-19 has resulted, on the whole, in a marked co-operation between contracting authorities and their suppliers as everybody focuses on maintaining delivery as far as possible.
Employment Tribunal rules in favour of claimants in minimum wage case – has the interpretation of “working time” changed?
As we enter a recession, we have been here before, and a key question is what did we learn and how can we benefit from that learning?
It is anticipated that as lockdown restrictions ease, and particularly with children and young adults returning to education, cases of meningitis will start to rise.
As we continue to emerge from lockdown measures and deal with local measures and the short and long term economic impact of Covid-19, local authorities will need to re-assess how services will be delivered for years to come.
The Government first announced plans for a shared ownership right to buy in October 2019. At the time the sector raised concerns about the impact the plans would have on housing associations ability to borrow. An election and a pandemic later the Government announced, during the CIH Housing Festival last week, the return of the right to shared ownership as part of its Affordable Homes Programme (AHP).
Two final pieces of the possession jigsaw have been published on 15 September 2020. Mr Justice Knowles’ working group on possession proceedings has issued its guidance on the “overall arrangements” for possession proceedings.
One change proposed by the Building Safety Bill is the introduction of a duty holder regime, which will see statutory responsibility for the safety of higher risk buildings placed on key individuals
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