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News

GPs’ concern that reforms will ‘raise conflicts of interest’

27/10/11

A new survey conducted by the British Medical Association (BMA) has shown that two-thirds of doctors believe that the government's health reforms will create conflicts of interests in their jobs and undermine their relationships with patients.

The survey sought the views of every GP in the UK on issues ranging from workload and morale, to the potential changes happening in primary care due to the Health and Social Care Bill.

The poll found that the new responsibilities of GP-led clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are a particular worry for doctors, and 68% of respondents said that their new position will create conflicts of interest in the patient-doctor relationship.

The survey found:

  • Nine out of ten GPs (88%) say the intensity of their consultations has increased in the last five years
  • Seventeen out of twenty GPs (84%) say the complexity of their consultations has increased in the last five years
  • Three quarters (75%) of GPs in England do not agree with the proposal in the Health and Social Care Bill to link practice income to the performance of their commissioning group
  • Seventeen out of twenty (85%) do not believe that practice boundaries should be abolished

Chairman of the BMA's GP committee commented on the survey results. He said:

'GPs do not want the trust patients put in them to be damaged by these reforms, yet this is exactly what they fear will happen.

'The government must take heed and further revise its plans for the quality premium in particular, to avoid any potential damage to the doctor-patient relationship.

'Much of the work we do now, such as looking after people with diabetes, used to be done in hospital and even though it's work we want to do because of the clear benefit to patients, it has made it harder to fit a consultation into a ten-minute time slot and it can make it more difficult to deal with surges in demand'.