Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
There is nothing wrong at all in making sure that GP's are not claiming for patients who(for whatever reason) are no longer using the service...what is wrong,however, is the method by which this is being done.
Paying a private company(whose aim is to make a profit) to do the work of sending out letters...which in itself is an expense, is not, in my opinion, the way to go about it.
Surely it is an easy job to find out if someone is still residing in the borough(electoral roll will provide evidence)....and if there has been no request by another GP for records then that patient should not be sent a mail shot.
If I were no longer living in Accrington, or had decided to change my GP...surely to goodness my new GP would want my records......this request should be flagged up by the administrative staff of the practice.......I have to say the cynical part of me thinks that GP's who are being paid what amounts to a retention fee for each patient, are not letting on when patients leave their list.
Why would you elect to lose money if you didn't have to?
|
You are assuming everyone is on the electoral roll and they are not. You are assuming people haven't moved away and informed the GP they have changed address or have even registered elsewhere. Many forgot to register with a doctor after moving until they are ill. You are assuming everyone is as intelligent as yourself, sadly many are not.
It is quicker and cheaper to send a letter to those patients who haven't been to the surgery for 5 years than it is to start trying to find out details in other ways