Cash incentives for GPs under Labour’s radical plan to cut NHS waiting lists

GPs will be given financial incentives to discuss with specialists whether patients can be treated outside hospital, under radical plans to cut NHS waiting lists.

Doctors will be paid £20 each time they consult a specialist, by telephone or email, under the so-called advice and guidance (A&G) scheme, to see if there is an alternative to hospital visits and treatment.

The plan is part of a series of reforms announced on Monday by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who have pledged to ensure that 92% of NHS patients do not wait longer than 18 weeks for treatment.

Government officials said GPs too often diverted patients to outpatient clinics, putting avoidable pressure on hospitals. As MPs return to Westminster, ministers will also unveil upgrades to the NHS app so patients can choose healthcare providers, book appointments in more settings and receive test results.

“If the wealthy can choose where and when they get treatment, then working-class patients should be able to do the same, and this government will give them that choice,” Streeting said.

“Our plan will transform the NHS so that patients are fully informed at every step of their care, given the right choice to switch providers for a shorter wait and take control of their own healthcare.”

Ministers say paying GPs to routinely use the A&G scheme could mean 800,000 extra cases treated in the community every year.

This can be done by nurses in general practices, in pharmacies or by physiotherapists. The £80 million cost of paying GPs for this will be deducted from existing budgets for elective care in hospitals.

Streeting said on Saturday evening that more care in the community was crucial to ease pressure on hospitals and reduce waiting times: “The root of the NHS waiting times crisis is 14 years of mismanagement of the NHS, which has cut community services and placed patients on top of each other stacked. hospital, even though it is not the best place for them to be. Shifting care from hospital to community is one of three big shifts we will make to transform the NHS.”

Conditions for which patients in the community may be offered alternative treatment include ear, nose and throat problems. Approximately 50% of referrals to secondary care include simple age-related hearing loss, tinnitus, earwax removal, simple ear infections and other related conditions – many of which can and should be treated safely and effectively outside of hospital. Streeting also said the changes to the NHS app would bring the NHS “into the digital age” and would also help reduce waiting times.

Professor Phil Banfield, chairman of the BMA council, said the proposals would have limited impact. “With 7.5 million people waiting for care, the app may help some patients navigate disjointed and complex care pathways, but an upgrade to the NHS app alone will not make a serious impact on waiting lists without significant improvements in other parts of our healthcare system. healthcare system,” he said.

Tim Gardner, deputy director of policy at the Health Foundation, said: “We welcome the NHS’s plan to tackle waiting times for routine hospital treatments. With a waiting list of 7.5 million and almost 235,000 waits of more than a year, there are too many patients waiting in pain, many of which worsen over time.

“But we should have no illusions about the scope of the objectives in this plan. Delivering on the (waiting list) promise would require improvements of a similar scale to those achieved by the last Labor government in the 2000s, but under more difficult circumstances and with much lower levels of funding.”