Family doctor services 'under threat of extinction'

A funding crisis and increased demand for care means general practice as patients know it in the UK is "under severe threat of extinction", the head of the Royal College of GPs has warned.

The royal college's president, Dr Maureen Baker, said failing to properly fund GP surgeries could have an impact on the sustainability of the NHS.

Some practices were already closing due to lack of staff, she said.The Department of Health said it recognised the "vital" job GPs do.

Funding for GPs is vital to protect the future of the NHS as a whole, Dr Baker said.

"Cutting funding to the bone is a false economy - by investing in general practice, we are shoring up the rest of the NHS from collapse," she added.

"We are fiddling while Rome burns and the four governments of the UK must wake up to the critical state that general practice is now in."

If there is not sufficient funding in the 2014/15 budget rounds, the RCGP has "grave concerns for the sustainability of the NHS", according to its president.

The royal college says that funding for general practice in England has fallen by £400m in real terms over the past three years.

More on this story here.

David Cameron said the NHS is safe in his hands as he brought the annual Conservative conference to an end. He promised "no more pointless and disruptive reorganisations". Instead, change would be "driven by the wishes and needs of NHS professionals and patients". 4 October 2006 here.

While people watch the TV and chomp on big macs the NHS is being destroyed, only when it is gone will people wake up, maybe. Apathy the most dangerous condition known to man. And far too many diabetics fit in to that category. 

Eddie