The NHS looks set to be a core election issue in 2015. After four years of restrained spending and demand on the health service showing no signs of abating, the challenges facing the NHS and social care are unprecedented. Most patients’ first point of contact with the health service, general practice, is no exception.
It is clear that general practice is struggling to meet the growing and complex needs of patients. And with funding for general practice cut since 2010, GPs and patients alike are feeling the effects of the financial squeeze. But are GPs really on the brink? Is it a sustainable solution to hand over more money? And is it time for a service that has barely changed since the 1940s to have a re-think about how services will be organised and delivered?
Key questions we will consider at our first Policy Crunch include:
- Are the demands facing GPs becoming impossible, or can general practice rise to the challenge?
- Are GPs stepping up to deliver new services and fill new roles to help care for more people outside hospital?
- What has happened to staff numbers in general practice and what is the impact on patients? Does the general public now find it harder to access their GP?
- Is the current model of general practice fit for purpose, or does it need major reform?
- How is the financial squeeze affecting the quality of general practice?
- What do political, clinical, managerial and patient leaders need to do now?
These events were coupled with a series of published election papers which incorporated the results from our Health and Social Care Leaders’ Panel. These papers pose a central question and provide evidence-based facts and analysis, which will inform each policy debate.