Government-commissioned review finds 10 per cent of drugs prescribed by primary care doctors are not wanted or needed
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This may or may not be true, for we can only know if we see how this conclusion was reached.
For medications are given to individuals and like all individuals we could all experience problems in many different ways.
Unfortunately the NHS does not treat people as individuals, especially in these times of non-face to face consultations. and then the problems in getting repeat consultations when needed. This is the same for both GP and hospital consultations.
They all treat the condition in a ‘one fits all’ approach, instead of a ‘person centred ‘ approach. Also and especially hospitals treat conditions in isolation, but many have multiple conditions and with GPs and some extent hospitals appointments are time time related., otherwise the appointment system get out of line and appointment times are then not met if appointment times are exceeded.
But, if you have more than one issue when seeing a GP and want to relate to your list, the GP could well say, just give me the top of your list and we will discuss the rest on your next appointment, and that is a major problem for when will that next appointment be, certainly not the next day or even the next week could be weeks or months. Even getting through to a GP surgery is a major exercise for it could take time to get even in a queue and then wait to be connected to the receptionists, to be then told all that days appointment haver been taken, no offer for any face to face for the appointments referred to are telephone appointments. It was said sometime ago that going on 80% of a GP consultation was from the patient and not any GP checks, but with a telephone appointment the only vehicle of communication is voice, no understanding of tone, body language and any other observations, so again the appointment is somewhat not sufficient.
As I said, even with a face to face you are usually restricted to around 10 mins, which gives no time for many patient to mention all they wish too and a patient is not an expert of medical issues only on their body and how they are feeling, much of which can’t be expressed over the phone.
Yes, GPs are over worked and there are too few of then, but don’t we all have stressed lives and who is to say how much effort it took a patient to try and get an appointment in the first place, is there any wonder why A&Es are so busy these days, as patients will mainly take going to A&E and suffer the long waits there for they know they will be seen, but again by an overworked, mainly junior doctor, not saying they are not fully trained, but long hours can lead to mistakes being made and they are made and one mistake is one too many.
The NHS has been underfunded for many years, but then so as Social Care which is another story, but as equally important, if not more so.
Money is not everything, for there has been much Government interventions into the NHS and mainly not for the better. Care of any nature is more than likely to be long term and costly.
Don’t get me wrong for we in the UK are extremely lucky to have the NHS, and I bless the Labour Government in the 40s for all their work and will to create the NHS in 1948. But in those days Doctors and Dentists and the BMA were not fully in favour of the NHS, as I am lead to believe they did not wish to lose their access to their private practices, so a compromise was reached. This was on the lines that if they agreed to be brought into the NHS not as employees, but as self employed they could retain their private practices and still work for the NHS. So even tough they are contracted to be in the NHS it is the practice and not the individual doctors. So they can withdraw from the NHS if they wish and still work on private patients, which many |Dentists have done, so creating many problems for |NHS Dentistry, in that there is a very serious lack of capacity in NHS Dentistry, as so many people are experiencing in not being able to find an NHS dentist, and then afford it, for Dentistry was removed for ‘free at the point of delivery’ many years ago, although the NHS payment is subsidised through the NHS.
|Both the N HS and also Social Care need to be fully funded, but that takes money and one of then should not be left short to fund the other. This is not the fault solely of this Government, but of many previous Governments who have left the NHS somewhat underfunded and even more so, Social Care, latter even true today, in fact very true and the question is will both be able to survive, especially social care, for the current lack of social care is already having an effect on the over use of the |N HS and if it were to get worse,which it is every day, or even disappear, the NHS would not be able to cope and that would mean disastrous consequences for all who need these services and have no ability to pay.
So urgent action is still required and the announcement a few weeks ago was way to little and way too late.
So medication is but one problem in many others. But I would not just say there is over prescription, which in some instances there will be, especially in some instances of antibiotics and in some anti depression. But please before any thing is done view the patient and not just the assumed overt prescribing.
Source: Ministers to crack down on overprescription of medicines on the NHS | The Independent
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