A THIRD OF GPS HAVE PRIVATE HEALTH ; 28 Per Cent of GPs Have Private Medical Insurance and 10 Per Cent More Want It

By DANIEL MARTIN

ALMOST four out of ten GPs have so little faith in the Health Service that they would rather be treated privately, a survey shows today.

Of the 600 family doctors questioned, 28 per cent have actually taken out private medical insurance to avoid being treated on the NHS, and a further 10 per cent said they would opt for private treatment if they or a relative fell ill.

GPs have enjoyed huge pay rises since a new contract was brought in three years ago. Their average salary is now more than Pounds 100,000 a year.

Family doctors were more likely to go private than colleagues in NHS hospitals. Across all the 1,700 doctors surveyed by Hospital Doctor magazine, an average of 22 per cent have medical insurance, and 33 per cent would prefer private treatment.

A spokesman for the Patients Association said: ‘It’s disappointing that many doctors don’t seem to have much faith or trust in the NHS.

‘Maybe they’re concerned about infections or the lack of resources.

But what about those of us who don’t have a choice?’ Conservative health spokesman John Baron said: ‘It is a sign of low morale among doctors if a third of them want to go private.

‘It’s a function of the fact that the Government is not allowing them to get on with the job and is meddling too much with all their targets.’ Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: ‘Despite the record investment and all the claims by ministers, people are still waiting too long for NHS treatment.

‘Greater efforts must be made to get the NHS to the point where people don’t feel the need to make those decisions if they are lucky enough to have the money to do so.’ However medical insurers welcomed the survey results.

Dr David Costain, medical director at AXA PPA Healthcare, said: ‘Despite knowing how to get the best of what the NHS has to offer, 33 per cent of the survey’s respondents indicated they would prefer to go private.’ Dr Natalie-Jane MacDonald, medical director of BUPA Health Insurance, said BUPA offered discounted private medical insurance to doctors. She said: ‘The main reasons why doctors have private medical insurance are to get back to work quickly, privacy many don’t want to be treated in the hospital in which they work and being able to choose who treats them and when.’ The survey also found that 95 per cent of doctors believed their colleagues prescribed themselves drugs and medicines.

The General Medical Council says doctors should avoid treating themselves or members of their close families.

Dr Jo Hilbourne, chair of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors committee, told Hospital Doctor that GP surgeries made it difficult to arrange appointments.

She said: ‘It’s difficult to get time off work for something like a minor illness when you know that if you don’t go to work, patients could turn up and not be seen or you feel like you’re dumping work on your colleagues.’ Her concerns were backed up last week by a patient survey which showed a rising number describing access arrangements at their local family doctor as inconvenient.

The online survey for Hospital Doctor found that almost a quarter of doctors suffered from some form of illness, whether medical, psychological or a physical disability. Of these, half believed their work had contributed to or exacerbated their condition, and 39 per cent had been forced to take time off because of ill health.

Three in five said they did not believe the NHS was doing enough to help doctors in terms of occupational health and flexible working practices.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the BMA, warned that doctors could leave the NHS if they did not feel they were being looked after.

She said: ‘When you consider how expensive it is to train doctors you don’t want to lose them. It’s a good investment to look at their health problems and see how we can help.’ Up to 900 jobs are to be axed by an NHS trust which has a hospital in the Leicester West constituency of health secretary Patricia Hewitt.

Peter Reading, chief executive of University Hospitals of Leicester, said the NHS was striving to become more efficient and to make the best use of taxpayers’ money.

He said Leicester’s hospitals had reduced costs by Pounds 35million, but more needed to be done because of a forecast deficit of Pounds 32million.

Campaign groups and the Conservatives attacked the cuts, saying that job losses in the NHS had now arrived on the ‘doorstep’ of Miss Hewitt.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: ‘Does this mean that we will see Patricia Hewitt campaigning against these cuts in her own constituency?’

DENTIST? WAIT TILL APRIL

PATIENTS at up to 5,000 dental practices could have to wait until Easter for treatment in an NHS funding crackdown.

Under a new contract, dentists are paid for a set number of treatments each year, but some have treated too many patients too quickly.

The British Dental Association said up to a quarter of NHS practices are ‘over-performing’ and could reach their limit before the financial year ends in April. Thousands of patients could be turned away, with health chiefs in Yorkshire, Cornwall and Norfolk reporting problems now.

Patients will have to wait for treatment, find another practice, pay privately or go to AE.

LibDem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: ‘This will drive more people from the NHS.’ Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley said: ‘We will be in the absurd situation of patients needing dental treatment and dentists able to provide it, but a health service so cash- strapped that it is unable to pay for the treatment.’ Two weeks ago the Department of Health told primary care trusts not to give over- performing dentists more money, regardless of waiting lists, because it would ‘introduce perverse incentives to work faster’.

It added: ‘This could undermine one of the intended benefits of the reforms: Dentists reinvesting time freed by simpler courses of treatment in spending more time with patients and providing more preventative care.’ It suggests PCTs should threaten to cut next year’s allocation if dentists over-perform.

But a spokesman said: ‘The majority of dentists appear to be adapting well to the new ways of working.’

(c) 2007 Daily Mail; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.