Health minister admits most patients will ignore choice agenda

Neil Durham, healthcarerepublic.com, 21 December 2009, 12:20am

The majority of patients will ignore the government's choice agenda and stay with the practice they are currently registered with, according to health minister Mike O'Brien.

Mike O'Brien believes most people will stay where they are if practice boundaries are scrapped

Speaking during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday about scrapping practice boundaries, Mr O'Brien said: ‘Of course, given a choice most people will stay exactly where they are; I believe that is what most people will do. Only a limited number of people want to exercise choice in this regard and, yes, sometimes they are well, middle-class people who just want the choice. Why on earth should they not have it? If they want it, the NHS should be able to provide them with it.'

The health minister was responding to MP David Taylor (Labour, North-West Leicestershire) who described Labour's proposal to scrap practice boundaries as causing ‘a great deal of concern among GPs'.

He added: ‘Even those GPs who saw some benefits from that rather rushed reform... were quick to express to me their fear that abolishing GP practice boundaries could worsen the plight of those patients most vulnerable to serious long-term health problems.'

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All Comments

Christopher John Browning - 21 December 2009

'Why on earth should they not have it?' Could someone tell him for me please, as he does not appear able to work it out for himself, that the reason not everyone can have all the choice they want is that the NHS is now entering a period of financial restraint - probably financial difficulty - when it will struggle to provide even basic care to all and it will simply not be able to afford the 'customer service' extras such as choice.

Lindy Williams - 21 December 2009

This seems to stem from the fact that the government is not only unable to understand evidence and statistics, but is too engrossed in a) a strange view of choice b) an inability to think things through logically and c) the notion that getting re-elected will depend on knee-jerk policy-making.

I don't remember when exactly nor the precise details, but not so long ago was there not a survey which showed that about 85% of those interviewed were very content with important aspects of general practice? Included was the issue of surgery opening hours. And what did the govt do? Insist that practices provide long hours just for the 15%, who did not know or were not satisfied. This latest admission shows the same sloppy thinking.

It is just crass. Who will wake up and when?