NHS: General Practitioners

Lord Laming Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd May 2012 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Laming]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase the public accessibility and range of services provided by general practitioners in the National Health Service.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe)]

My Lords, from April 2013 the NHS Commissioning Board will be responsible for commissioning primary medical services. As a single organisation the board will be able to ensure that a consistent approach is applied to defining and delivering accessible and high-quality GP services. Clinical commissioning groups will also actively seek to improve care delivered by general practice because of their inherent interest in enhancing the wider quality and cost-effectiveness of NHS care.

[Lord Laming]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that very helpful reply. He knows better than most that if the intentions of the new Health and Social Care Act are to be realised, locally based community health services will need to be transformed. Will he say a little about the process, and in particular whether the users of services—the patients—will be given an opportunity to contribute to that transformation?

[Earl Howe]

The noble Lord raises a central issue that is certainly a major part of the Government’s programme—to shift services in general out of acute settings, where appropriate, and into the community. We expect that clinical commissioning groups will wish to engage with health professionals from across the full range of disciplines to design care in better ways, and in particular to ensure that the shift goes on. The noble Lord mentioned patient input, which is another key responsibility of clinical commissioning groups—and a legal duty that we made sure was in the legislation.