Training Blog

Health Secretary Andy Burnham has announced plans to scrap GP catchment areas in England within a year. It follows a claim that ministers want to introduce greater choice into the family doctor system, as they believe that it will drive up standards. The government has trying to get more from GPs ever since their pay rocketed with the introduction of a new contract in 2004. It started with GPs staying open for longer but the idea of ending catchment areas was on the cards before Gordon Brown became prime minister. Lord Darzi mentioned the idea when he revealed his review of the health service in 2008. At the moment catchment areas vary in size; in rural areas doctors see patients up to 40 miles away whilst city-based doctors often only see patients up t0 a 2 mile radius

Patient choice is already a well established right in hospital care with people entitled to choose from any hospital in the country for treatment. Mr Burnham states: “I want the best to be available to everyone, not according to where they live. Too often people’s choice of GP practice is unnecessarily limited by practice boundaries, so, with the profession, I want to open up real choice in primary care.” He also argues that people’s choice of a GP should be based on their own needs – not by lines on a map