Stop messing with patient records, just fund the GPs instead.
We need to mandate that all GP practices have a robust, fully integrated electronic patient record system that talks seamlessly to secondary care. This isn't about abstract data concerns; it's about making sure the right information is where it needs to be, when it needs to be there. For years we've been using clunky, disparate systems. If a patient comes into A&E, or gets admitted to hospital, the clinicians there often have to call us to get basic details, or they just don't have them. That delays everything and sometimes leads to mistakes.
This isn't some newfangled technological fix. It’s basic infrastructure. We've had the technology for decades, but successive governments have failed to properly fund its rollout and maintenance across the entire NHS. The idea that a single patient record will save 20,000 A&E visits sounds like pure fantasy conjured up to avoid the real problem.
Sticking asylum seekers on old military bases is just kicking the can down the road, and it’s bad medicine.
I had a patient in last week, Mrs Henderson, she was worried sick about the plans for a new site near Thetford. Not that it’s in our patch directly, but it’s not far, and she was talking about how it would effect local schools and doctors. She’s right to be concerned, it always comes down to the same thing, doesn’t it? We’re already running on fumes most days, and that’s before you start adding thousands of people who often have complex health needs.
The idea of just sticking people on these big, isolated sites always strikes me as incredibly short-sighted. It saves a bit of money on the face of it, maybe, but what about the long game? You’re housing vulnerable people away from any real community, making it harder for them to learn English, get any sort of skills, or just feel like a person again.
What do you think?
Vote on individual policies, adapt them, or write your own alternative. Good ideas should be tested.