RCGP Launches UK-Wide Manifesto for Patient
Care
23rd March 2010
The Royal College of General Practitioners
today publishes its UK-wide manifesto outlining some
recommendations for the future of high quality care for patients,
for whichever party is elected following this year’s general
election.
Leading the Way: High Quality Care
For All Through General Practice, makes a number of
proposals designed to produce a healthier society and promote
healthier lifestyles. The main recommendations of the manifesto are
a call for longer consultation times and longer GP training; the
ageing population means that more patients will have long-term and
increasingly complex conditions, requiring GPs and patients to have
more time together to discuss care and treatment options.
The document is divided into three sections;
High-quality GP care for all; Care for patients closer to home; and
Improving the health of the nation, and key points in the manifesto
include calls for:
- Longer training for GPs
- Continued support for the development of GP
‘Federations’
- Better access to talking therapies
- Better and faster access to diagnostic tests,
and
- Better services for socially excluded
groups
The manifesto makes recommendations regarding
smoking and alcohol misuse, including graphic warning labels and
minimum price levels for alcoholic drinks, and a ban on smoking in
motor vehicles (including private cars) with young children.
It also calls for action to tackle climate
change. The RCGP’s forthcoming annual conference in Harrogate will
be the College’s first sustainability-themed event.
RCGP Chairman Professor Steve Field said: “Our
health service faces a huge challenge: how to respond to reduced
funding without reducing the quality of the services we provide, or
the quality of the care our patients deserve. The RCGP is up for
the challenge and is already leading the way in showing how
high-quality, cost effective care can be available to all, based on
clinical need and not an individual’s ability to pay.”
View the
Manifesto
Download the Manifesto
ENDS
For more information please contact the RCGP
Press Office at press@rcgp.org.uk or contact Charlie
Breslin on 0207 344 3136.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The Royal College of General Practitioners is
a network of over 38,000 family doctors working to improve care for
patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards
of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on
education, training, research and clinical standards.