PE01698: Medical care in rural areas

Using a formula as a basis for funding to cover such a disparate population is almost inevitably going to be biased. In this instance I fear that it is rural areas that will suffer.

Anne Elizabeth Hughes

12:33 on 18 Jul 2018

I have been using my local GP survey for the last 15 years and have always received a great service. The new contract threatens the service we receive and for the 1st time in 15 years I have concerns about the healthcare in our area. Rural communities need to be looked after.

Brian Heaton

18:15 on 17 Jul 2018

The current contract may help some urban areas to establish multi-disciplinary teams, along the lines rural practices have had for years. But asking health boards or HSCPs to organise them means they will never be part of the real primaryn healthcare team as they will have a centralised, acute-sector culture. They will never be nimble enough to be truly primary-care oriented around our needs as individual patients. And the current formula only works for larger populations where the worried well constantly beat a path to GPs, who tend to over-refer to their consultant hospital colleagues, and thus spend a lot of time writing letters rather than providing hands-on services to patients. The plans will fragment an increasingly fragmented service, making General Practice a boring and even more frustrating job. Please, give Rural GPs the means and respect to do the job many have always done, providing high levels of continuity of care, working with colleagues they know and trust (and frequently employ) to help rural patients receive accurate diagnoses, have personalised treatment plans, and avoid hospital admission wherever possible. Rural GPs are used to looking after and overseeing care for patients with complex needs. Rural patients are used to that approach. Rural patients largely consult when necessary and can be more resilient because the service has been so good, although poorly understood in larger towns and cities, by both Health Boards and the BMA. If the kind of practice described here is what the contract is trying to achieve, try supporting rural GPs, particularly those with GP community hospitals that still work (and are not geriatrician outposts) to see how interesting and fulfilling this type of practice can be for GPs, and how good it can be for patient outcomes. Then we might start to see the tap of never-ending unnecessary referrals to secondary and tertiary care turned off,thereby improving working conditions for consultants,reducing iatrogenic harm

Gail Greig

14:11 on 14 Jul 2018

Knowing someone who often needs urgent medical attention I value the services of our local GP surgery. Without these services many people would not countenance living here.

Catriona Trott

11:08 on 14 Jul 2018

The current GP funding formula in Scotland hugely discriminates against rural practice Is not fit for purpose and needs urgent modification

Dr Patrick Mulcahy

13:37 on 11 Jul 2018

It has been more and more challenging over the last ten years to recruit GPs to remote rural areas like Applecross. This new contract may well make it impossible. The erosion of medical support to remote rural areas is going to reinforce the existing trend of depopulation, which we, as communities, are fighting so hard to resist.

Alison Macleod

9:41 on 07 Jul 2018

The new GP contract is not appropriate for those of us who live in rural and island communities, as it does not continue to deliver the current standard of service we receive. Currently our local area is well looked after by a team of professionals who never fail to make you feel safe and well cared for. The changes that would need to be made if the new GP contract came in to full swing would threaten our health and well being.

Carole Wells

22:44 on 05 Jul 2018

The new GP contract is not appropriate for those of us who live in rural and island communities, as it does not continue to deliver the current standard of service we receive. Currently our local area is well looked after by a team of professionals who never fail to make you feel safe and well cared for. The changes that would need to be made if the new GP contract came in to full swing would threaten our health and well being.

Carole Wells

22:44 on 05 Jul 2018

As a home owner on the Isle of Luing I truly believe that the service we currently receive from the local doctors is outstanding, and the new GP contract would without a doubt have a negative impact on this. There are a large number of elderly residents living here and they should be able to feel safe in the knowledge that they will be well looked after. That does not mean having to start travelling further afield or feel that they have been abandoned. Therefore there needs to be special consideration about the impact the new GP contract will have on rural and island communities like ourselves.

Gemma Wells

22:33 on 05 Jul 2018

Should this "Contract" succeed, there will be a huge added cost required for helicopters to outlying areas.

Angela McLeod

15:00 on 03 Jul 2018