Darnall Community Health GP Surgery Could Close On NHS Spending Cuts
Politics / Sheffield Jan 23, 2010 - 02:12 AM GMTBy: N_Walayat
A number of Sheffield GP surgeries including Darnall Community Health could face the axe on anticipated deep NHS spending cuts following the next general election. The British economy is in the midst of a deep debt crisis that risks a collapse into a hyperinflationary bust. The root of the problem lies in the fact that the UK government spends £180 billion more on public spending than it earns, i.e. government revenues are £500 billion, and government expenditure is £680 billion (2009-10 est). The deficit of £180 billion at 14% of GDP is not sustainable, which requires an urgent and near immediate cut in the deficit to below 6% of GDP to prevent igniting an out of control inflationary debt spiral.
Both political parties have pledged to ring fence NHS and Education budgets for increased spending. However these promises are NOT possible given the fact that these are two of the largest spending departments, therefore it would be impossible for the government to achieve the cut in the budget deficit without also cutting these budgets by at least 4% and possibly as high as 6%.
Even if all of the proposed cuts detailed in the earlier analysis (UK Public Spending Deficit Debt that Risks Bankrupting Britain ) did take place, Britain would still be in for a tough time during the next 5 years. However without cutting the big spending budgets then there is no way the country can bridge the huge gap between income and expenditure where each months deficit is added to Britians' debt mountain the size of which would risk a currency and economic collapse into hyper-inflation Iceland style.
Following Alistair Darlings recent comments that deep cuts need to be enacted, then actual cuts in the NHS budget may even materialise before the next election i.e. in the March budget which implies that the Sheffield NHS Primary Care Trust is probably already making plans for cutting those services that rank near the bottom of the various productivity and patient experience measures. One of the best measures of GP performance is from the data compiled by the Department of Health funded UK GP Patient Survey conducted by Ipsos MORI during 2009 that sent out a questionnaire to 5.7 million NHS GP patients throughout the UK, which has proved an extremely important exercise as it allows patients to respond directly to the pollsters as to their actual experience of their GP services.
The comprehensive dataset generated for Sheffield GP surgeries patient feedback comprises of a total 57,759 questionnaires sent out to Sheffield patients of which 24,696 were returned or 42.75% (click here for a sample survey).
Whilst the questionnaire contains many fields of data, however the most relevant field towards the rating of all 91 Sheffield's GP Surgeries is deemed to be the level of overall patient satisfaction at the health services delivered.
Out of the full list of 91, the follow lists the bottom 10 performing GP surgeries in Sheffield as per the UK GP Patient Survey where Darnall Community Health and HighGate Surgeries trail at the very bottom of the table and therefore by implications at the greatest risk of cuts or being merged following implementation of NHS spending cuts.
| Surgery Rank (1-91) | Practice name | Total survey forms distributed | Total completed forms received | Response rate (%) | % Very satisfied | % Fairly satisfied | % Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied | % Fairly dissatisfied | % Very dissatisfied | % Satisfied (total) |
| 82 | CROOKES VALLEY MEDICAL CENTRE | 1,063 | 278 | 26% | 50% | 34% | 10% | 4% | 2% | 84% |
| 83 | CARRFIELD MEDICAL CENTRE | 655 | 242 | 37% | 51% | 33% | 11% | 4% | 1% | 84% |
| 84 | SHEFFIELD MEDICAL CENTRE | 784 | 212 | 27% | 56% | 28% | 11% | 2% | 2% | 84% |
| 85 | STONECROFT MEDICAL CENTRE | 501 | 274 | 55% | 42% | 42% | 9% | 6% | 1% | 84% |
| 86 | HAROLD STREET MEDICAL CENTRE | 886 | 255 | 29% | 47% | 35% | 11% | 5% | 2% | 82% |
| 87 | WESTFIELD HEALTH CENTRE | 663 | 255 | 38% | 47% | 35% | 13% | 4% | 2% | 81% |
| 88 | WOODHOUSE MEDICAL CENTRE | 570 | 292 | 51% | 36% | 43% | 11% | 6% | 4% | 79% |
| 89 | DARNALL HEALTH CENTRE (MEHROTRA) | 659 | 269 | 41% | 32% | 43% | 16% | 6% | 2% | 76% |
| 90 | DARNALL COMMUNITY HEALTH | 779 | 285 | 37% | 23% | 51% | 10% | 13% | 3% | 74% |
| 91 | HIGHGATE SURGERY | 1,000 | 264 | 26% | 28% | 39% | 15% | 8% | 11% | 66% |
Data Source - http://results.gp-patient.co.uk/report/main.aspx
Therefore surgeries at the bottom of the table i.e. Darnall Community Health and Highgate Surgery could be singled out as 2 of a possible 5 Sheffield GP surgeries to be merged as part of a wider NHS budget cut.
The Labour Government during early 2009 promised patients the facility to change their GP rather than be forced to register with an under performing GP due to their residency, which should by now have been implemented. In this regard the following list of all 91 Sheffield GP surgeries provides for a good starting point for patients to follow up with their own research in which is the best GP surgery to be registered with, as at the end of the day the NHS is NOT FREE, which clearly is something that many GP's appear to have long since forgotten the fact that salaries are PAID out of TAX PAYER POCKETS. Therefore the sooner REAL competition is introduced between GP surgeries by means of both the ability of patients to easily CHANGE their GP's and introduction of Private GP services then the sooner will ALL patients receive the best healthcare provision rather than the tendency for those that live in the more affluent awards receiving better healthcare services as the results of the ongoing Market Oracle Opinion Poll (as of June 2009) illustrates:
The Sheffield MP Nick Clegg (Lib Dem's leader) has voiced his concerns in the past at the apparent 14 year gap in life expectancy between affluent and deprived wards of the city stating:
"It is an outrage that social mobility has slowed, not increased, under the Blair-Brown years. It is an outrage that in Sheffield, where I’m an MP, life expectancy in the poorest wards is a full 14 years below the life expectancy of those living in the wealthiest wards. Your life chances are now set by the circumstances of your birth as never before."
List of ALL Sheffield GP Surgeries Ranked by Overall Patient Satisfaction Of Quality of Healthcare
I will seek to update the Sheffield UK Patient Survey Feedback tables during 2010, as new data is released.
Source : http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article16704.html
By Nadeem Walayat
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk
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Nadeem Walayat has over 20 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis specialises on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and the housing market . Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. We present in-depth analysis from over 500 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets. Thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk
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