Aston defends GPs over primary care innovation
A leading Liverpool doctor has welcomed the current call from Government and industry for GPs to overhaul their surgeries' opening hours but has dismissed claims from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) that there is a lack of innovation in primary care.
Dr James Heath is a practicing GP and managing director of Aston Healthcare which manages the care of nearly 40,000 primary care patients across its 10 practices in Knowsley, Newton-le-Willows and Mansfield.
He was responding to the health secretary, Alan Johnson's call last week for extended opening hours of surgeries in the evenings and on Saturday mornings to help fit patients' appointments around the working day. This was echoed this week by the CBI which also called for an overhaul of 'outdated' care, saying businesses lose 38m working hours and �1bn a year because employees have to visit their GP during the working day.
"We've recognised for some time that GP surgeries need to be much more flexible to accommodate different work patterns and the changing needs of our patients," said Dr Heath.
"We've been addressing the whole issue of opening hours and tried to make our surgeries much more accessible to patients across the day, throughout lunchtimes and into the evenings. At our newest surgery, the Manor Farm Primary Care Resource Centre in Huyton, for example, its 8am to 8pm opening hours seem to be exactly what the health secretary and the CBI are calling for."
However Dr Heath did not agree with claims by John Cridland, deputy director general of the CBI, that there was a lack of innovation in primary care.
"I take exception to this when I consider the way GP practice has changed in recent years and when I look at the way we are trying to develop innovative primary care services for patients in our own communities.
"Within our surgeries in Knowsley and Mansfield, for example, we now offer a mobile diagnostic ultrasound service which has dramatically reduced the waiting times for patients previously relying on hospital scans and has enabled the early detection of life-threatening conditions such as cancer for many primary care patients.
"We are also about to launch new community osteoporosis and intermediate diabetes services into these surgeries that will again see the transfer of acute-based treatment out of hospitals and into a primary care setting for improved ease, convenience and comfort of our patients.
"The call for greater flexibility over opening hours and improved access to GPs is a valid one but it must not be confused with a sense that all GPs are failing in local patient care," said Dr Heath.
