The Health & Social Care Bill

GPs’ views on commissioning

As a result of the new Health and Social Care Bill, it’s likely that GPs will effectively be doing two jobs – treating patients, and undertaking the financial management of primary care (commissioning). While this will give them more control over the services they can access, concerns are being raised by many parties over the implied increase in responsibilities and workload, and the ability of these medical professionals to step into a more business-oriented role.

• Of the GPs we spoke to, almost a quarter (22%) said they plan to take early retirement as a consequence.

A further 18% are planning to reduce their working hours, and over 70% of GPs feel that the changes will increase their already busy workload. Just under half of our audience felt that it will be harder to devote time to their patients – and over 50% felt that commissioning would shift their focus significantly from patient care to administration.

• Only 11% of the GPs we spoke to felt that the Health and Social Care bill would bring more opportunities for better services to patients.

Almost half felt that their choices will actually decrease as NHS services are realigned under the new arrangements.

Would you like to see more details?

For more information, we encourage you to download the full Health of the Nation report (PDF 539KB). Hard copies are also available by request, from hcpr@aviva.co.uk.