'Uber' for private GP appointments

My point was that this kind of two-tiered system should be run by separate firms, so in this case, if you want to queue skip you have to see Dr X rather than your own GP, insurance claims should be different for GPs undergoing this work as surely these consumers are more likely to sue, etc.

I think a lot of the issue with GP availability is down to unrealistic patient expectation and a consumerist, convenience based culture, as well as a general refusal to take responsibility for ones own health.

I don't think people give a **** if it's a socialist triumph or provided by private companies -- so long as the bid that wins a service is cost-effective in the true sense of the word (i.e. cheapest cost for actual efficacy), then what's the problem? GPs are still funded by the government and the NHS, even if there is a private provider.

Most GP Practices already do some private work (or technically work not commissioned by the NHS) - the private sick notes, to whom it may concern letters, occupational health, medicals (HGV, adoptions etc.), insurance reports etc. so I suppose it's somewhere in the slope.

Doing this already doesn't change what their access obligations are to NHS registered patients... It's for the practice or doctors within it to figure out how to use their time & resources.

Do you mean insurance claims as in professional indemnity? The fees are usually already based on whether patients are being seen at their registered practise v. a walk in centre or out of hours & your role as a partner/salaried or locum.

I imagine GPs will increasingly decline to take on unfunded work though! & there might be a shift towards spending any spare time resources on "private" work rather than unfunded things that probably used to be done out of goodwill...

Yeah, I agree. I mean that rather than every GP doing private work, I'd prefer a service whereby your local GP remains local and non-private. While a totally parallel entirely private system (which could, I guess, expand to include secondary care) is for patients prepared to pay extra. Rather than a cross between the two, where GPs may save 1hr a day of work to do entirely private. Maybe they'll pressure local patients to go private with them and that'll influence how they treat them. To me its a serious conflict of interest.

But its funny the difference, in NI there is a lot of free goodwill from GPs, England's has disappeared.*

I guess GP is technically private if you look from that perspective, but it's still run on NHS principles i.e. for patients and not for profit.

Even with the tremendous work force and financial squeezes on GP services, they continue to run that way and be answerable to the NHS as a whole.

I'm sure I could think of a way to quantify it more eloquently, but I think comparing GPs to a conglomerate like Virgin Health is like comparing the independent shops in your town to the Asda down the road. It's local caring business invested in things versus a pure business model.

When I was in NI the GPs were working their arses off, much more than in England. Equally there was a lot more 'waste' than in England, IMO. Partly because of the free prescriptions there still, but I saw loads of patients consulting their GP for extremely trivial things like needing Paracetamol, purely to get it free rather than for 32p or whatever it was. Lots of people on long term Benzos, and antibiotics given out like Skittles. Equally the local population adored their GPs. I only have experience from *one* GP practice so I don't want to by any means extrapolate unfairly from that, but I did find the culture of healthcare super different in NI compared to England and part of that seemed to be GP relationship but also part of it was lack of prescription charges meaning truly open access to medicines.

male bovine excrement . Gps take partnerships precisiely becasue it is an investment

you do not appear to have the slightest idea how the NHS runs .

again utter utter, rubbish and la-lan land socialist fairy dreamland to try to explain away the baseless fears despite the fact the vast majority of patient interactiosn have, since 1948, do and will continue to take place in private provider units

you really haven't got a clue ...

male bovine excrement . Gps take partnerships precisiely becasue it is an investment
you do not appear to have the slightest idea how the NHS runs .
again utter utter, rubbish and la-lan land socialist fairy dreamland to try to explain away the baseless fears despite the fact the vast majority of patient interactiosn have, since 1948, do and will continue to take place in private provider units
you really haven't got a clue ...