Don't rock the boat - an election is about to take place ...!

In August I blogged about a proposed cut to GP funding in Wakefield with thirty four surgeries in Wakefield and Pontefract having the threat of £3.8 million slashed from their budgets. Our Local Medical Committee (our union)  launched a petition asking NHS England to reconsider this.

At the Conservative Party Annual Conference in September it was announced that all of the money that was at risk would return to general practice funding in Wakefield and that none of it would be used for other purposes.

Since then the state of general practice has come to the fore and now politicians seem to have grasped that undermining general practice is not very sensible. Our Local Medical Committee has been in negotiation with NHS England and this week has announced that the reduction in funding we were expecting in April will be put off until October and that it is likely that practice funding will be broadly similar.

From October there is still a threat to reduce practice funding but it is certainly secure over the election period. It seems to me that the message is don't rock the boat about general practice funding especially in the pre-election period. And of course we now know that, even if we read politicians manifestos, what we get after the election is not necessarily is what we voted.

I always tell patients, slightly tongue in cheek, 'trust me I'm a doctor', but not sure that we can say the say about politicians, of whatever party they come from. So, watch this space for more details ...

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