NHS Doctor's GP Service in the UK

[said]

US health insurance giant, Centene, through its UK subsidiary, Operose Health, has been taking over GP surgeries and practices in London and across the country for many years.
Centene has recently taken over AT Medics, a primary care provider responsible for 49 GP surgeries and over 370,000 patients in the Greater London area.
With a total of 70 GP surgeries and practices, Centene is almost certainly the largest single provider of NHS primary care in England.
This is shocking. Even the Daily Mail has called Centene a “profit greedy” company.

https://weownit.org.uk/blog/here-are...-giant-centene

[local]

Its not new at all which makes a mockery of the NHS privatisation complaints.

https://www.google.com/url?q=https:/...RnSdvGu37zetod

[Nick2]

Its not new at all which makes a mockery of the NHS privatisation complaints.

https://www.google.com/url?q=https:/...RnSdvGu37zetod

It's been this way for many years in Oz, and seems to work very well.

[local]

Hearing all the complaints about GP practices the ability for the customer, us, to take our spending power elsewhere strikes me as very attractive.

Perhaps the NHS should provide credits that we could spend where we like and top up as we see fit.

[Little Londoner]

While most GP surgeries have been 'businesses' for many years what is new is the big businesses some multinational have moved in. I saw elsewhere that St Mark's are bragging about having bought the premises, part of the boast is that the company support 75000 patients in total.

St Marks is probably the worst joke of a Practice it is possible to imagine,
my wife had a blood test and certain anomalies were found which she was informed about by letter from a GP and told to book a further blood test. I rang after the period stated had elapsed and phoned the surgery, the Gruppen Fuehrer who answered snapped back you have to phone at 8.00a.m. to book an appointment. No mention in the letter of phoning at 8.00a.m. I explained the Doctor wants a further blood test PHONE at 08.00a.m. was the reply.

1st attempt at 08.00 you are number 43 in the queue, hung up.

2nd attempt following day same time you are 31 in the queue so hung up.

If it was an appointment for a GP, which these days is rarer than rocking horse poo, I could understand it but there are multiple places a blood test can be carried out all that is needed is a form but that seems a bit too simple for these jobsworths to fathom out. Plus the fact in past blood tests at St Marks after scoring 501 with attempts to find the vein another nurse was summoned to find the dratted thing

I know they appear to be the United Nations preferred Practice for Southport but if they can't even follow up on things THEY request I have decided it is finally time to seek another practice after being with them at 8 Church St and then St Marks all my life, in the heady days when a GP was a real person who saw patients it was damn near impossible to see the same doctor to follow up with treatment which is a mockery in itself.

[Albion102]

It is impossible to have a wholly state run NHS in a mixed economy, aside from hospitals, pharmacy services have been privatised, the NHS makes very few of its own drugs and virtually all medical equipment is bought in.

People got used to Donald Trump's lying and bluster and to leftist scaremongering being exagerated but still worry about the USA "getting its hands on our NHS".

The key to primary care is getting people access to the treatment they need and delivering the primary care strategies around screening, early detection and health monitoring. That is about logistics and communication, as much as knowing lots about bodies.

The reason it is difficult to access a doctor in most practices, is that most people presenting at a practice don't need a doctor.

[local]

I can only agree with the negative comments about St Marks removing their funding might concentrate some minds.
Sharing out the migrant workload might help them.

[Alikado]

It is impossible to have a wholly state run NHS in a mixed economy, aside from hospitals, pharmacy services have been privatised, the NHS makes very few of its own drugs and virtually all medical equipment is bought in.

People got used to Donald Trump's lying and bluster and to leftist scaremongering being exagerated but still worry about the USA "getting its hands on our NHS".

The key to primary care is getting people access to the treatment they need and delivering the primary care strategies around screening, early detection and health monitoring. That is about logistics and communication, as much as knowing lots about bodies.

The reason it is difficult to access a doctor in most practices, is that most people presenting at a practice don't need a doctor.

It would be more efficient if the initial appointment at the surgery was a triage with a nurse who would then decide whether to treat or forward to the doctor, repeat appointments should be bookable at the time of the initial appointment to save the farse of having to set the alarm clock to get up to get on the phone. Prescriptions should have a charge which could be reclaimed through Universal Credit etc.

[K-T]

Another one here who has moved away from St. Mark's (and I have several friends who have too).

[Kritou]

Another one here who has moved away from St. Mark's (and I have several friends who have too).

I wish I could ...

[said]

Another one here who has moved away from St. Mark's (and I have several friends who have too).

I can well understand that. Remember old Victor who used to wander around the streets of Southport convinced the mafia councillors had stitched him up? Even though he was only on benefits (God Rest His Soul) he would refuse to see a national health doctor at the local surgeries - he always had to be seen by a private doctor because they spent more time with him and it was always quieter at those clinics.