Joanne today backed the concerns of the Garway Road Patients’ Action Group over Westminster Primary Care Trust’s (PCT) invitation to tender for the GP contract at Garway Road and the PCT’s decision to reduce the overall price of the contract.
The 17% cut in real cash terms would reduce spending in the area by £18 per head from £104 to £86, with such a cutback of funds likely to have a detrimental effect upon the quality of health care that the centre’s patients receive. Patients’ groups claim that the only way anyone can meet Westminster PCT’s monetary evaluation for the Garway Road GP contract is by reducing the salaries of the GPs, reducing the hours that the GPs will be working or even reducing the number of GPs in total. Or potentially all three.
Commenting on the PCT’s decision, Joanne, who was recently elected as a patient’s representative on the Garway Road Health Centre Vacant Practice Panel said: 'Garway Road health centre provides a vital service for some of the most vulnerable people in the Bayswater and Westbourne area. The PCT’s decision to cut funds to the centre will put patient care at risk as GP services will have to be reduced to meet very tight budget conditions. The PCT’s proposal to cut the level of service at Garway Road beggars belief given the amount of taxpayers’ money that has been pumped into the National Health Service by Gordon Brown since 1997.'
The Garway Road Patients’ Action Group are also worried about the impact of Westminster PCT’s proposals on the relationship between Garway Road patients and their GP: 'n tendering the contract for Garway Road at a lower cost Westminster PCT is jeopardising the existing relationships between Garway Road’s patients and their GP’s. If new providers secure the contract the upheaval and disruption for patients with the arrival of new doctors, who lack any knowledge of our medical histories, will be immense.’
Westminster PCT has refused to reschedule the Vacant Practice Panel meeting, where the final decision for who will become the provider is to be made, so that Joanne can attend. Joanne commented: 'Given the overwhelming support that I received from the patients of Garway road, I feel it is only proper that I am given every opportunity to execute my duties as their representative.'
