Value Blog

August 2008 - Posts

• Tories back Valuing General Practice

  It took until day 112 of GP's campaign but yesterday the Conservatives finally gave it their backing and entered the Valuing General Practice house. GP had an exclusive 40-minute chat with shadow health secretary for the Conservatives Andrew Lansley at Portcullis House, Westminster and you can read the full piece in our 5 September edition. England's potential next health secretary covered such topics as the differences between Conservative and Labour on general practice issues, the role of the private sector in the NHS under the Tories, where the Conservatives and BMA disagree on health policy and the importance of general practice under a David Cameron-led administration. It really was enlightening stuff and, if the polls are to be believed, it's a fascinating, crystal ball-look into the future and what waits in store for GPs post a 2010 election. Or not. You decide. Bafflingly, security in Portcullis House banned our photographer from taking any more pictures of Mr Lansley mid-shoot, so forgive us if the accompanying pictures are not as magnificent as usual. Our snapper did, however, put his unexpected spare time to good use and managed to spot (although, sadly not on camera!) a rather sunburnt-looking shadow foreign secretary William Hague ambling about Portcullis House. It was like an episode of The Politics Show in there. Oblivious to the GP interviewing team, broadcaster, writer, campaigner and former MP Oona King had pitched up at a neighbouring table.  Back to reality and the Valuing General Practice survey and petition closed on Tuesday. Thank you to the 3,000-plus patients and almost 300 GPs who have backed it so far. We're currently collating the evidence about the value of general practice generated by the campaign and will publish the results in an early September edition of GP. One of the campaign survey questions was whether prime minister Gordon Brown should make a statement valuing general practice. What do you think? Perhaps we should put a call in to Number 10 and lay down the challenge? neil.durham@haymarket.com  Posted Aug 22 2008, 09:52 AM by Neil Durham with 1 comment(s)

• How should we conclude the Valuing General Practice campaign?

  103 days ago prime minister Gordon Brown was recovering from Labour's worst election results for 40 years and London was welcoming new mayor Boris Johnson. GP also launched its Valuing General Practice campaign. All good things must come to an end and on Tuesday we begin the mammoth task of collating the material GPs and patients have contributed to the campaign. So far more than 260 GPs have taken part in the survey, enabling themselves to be entered into a draw for £100 worth of Amazon vouchers. You have six days to participate if you would like to. Practices with petitions should return them by Tuesday to the Valuing General Practice campaign, GP, 174 Hammersmith Road, Hammersmith, W6 7JP. So far more than 2,000 patients have backed the campaign, explaining in detail why they value general practice. Bodies including the Liberal Democrats, BMA, RCGP, NHS Alliance, National Association of Primary Care, Family Doctor Association, Dispensing Doctors Association, 2020health.org and Medical Women's Federation have thrown their weight behind the campaign. But what should we do with the evidence? How should we conclude the Valuing General Practice campaign? neil.durham@haymarket.com Posted Aug 14 2008, 09:39 AM by Neil Durham with no comments