A (junior) minister speaks.

You would think that a minister would have learned the expression engage brain before opening mouth but this assumes that ministers have brains and not just mouths. You also have to admire how they can come up with crap ideas to try and cover up the fact that there are not enough GPs. 

Pulse magazine reports once such idea as a success in one minister’s opinion but is it or merely an expensive waste of money on something that is already available albeit for a small consideration?

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f you look at the comments some others have also seen how useless this scheme is despite the headline of saving 40,000 GP appointments a year. Figures suggest that there are 340 million GP appointments a year so this scheme will have reduced general practice work load by a massive 0.01176470588 %. To any NHS commissar that will be a big number worthy of reporting to their minister possibly in the billions so it will be a worthwhile scheme to shout about.

Now it gets even better when you read further so have a look at this website regarding the long set of initials NUMSAS (NHS Urgent Medicines Supply Advanced Service) referred to in the Pulse article. 

A true masterpiece of Party speak and NHS redardocracy but hidden amongst this smouldering pile of NHS dung is the cost which you can eventually find as the last question in the funding and payment claims section.

So if we do a highly advanced piece of maffs that no NHS commisar could do called a share by then 2,000,000/38,900 or 2,000,000/29,177 based on number treated in the first year (and the total funding used runs until September 2018) depending which NUMSAS figure you choose from the article then each GP appointment saved costs a mere £ 51.41 or £ 68.55 versus the average cost of a GP appointment of £ 146 per year for an average 6 consults year means a GP consult costs just £ 24.33.

If you are an optimist and assume a total of 70,000 appointments by the end of the scheme the cost per patient becomes £ 28.57 per patient.

Now pharmacists can already dispense medicines in an emergency although it may cost the punter but if you are stupid enough to run out of medicine or to forget to order your medicines or lose it etc. then the expense incurred may provide a useful reminder not to do it again as any GP who has listened to a patient taking advantage of the scheme moan about being charged for their ignorance will know for it has usually cost the patient dear. They don’t like that hence the demand on more than one occasion for an emergency consultation when the surgery is next open to check that this is right. 

And how many patients per GP did a £ 2 million pound scheme save? Again depending on which figure you use then the number of appointments saved per GP might be as little as 0.85 or as much as 1.13 appointments per year or put another way this scheme will save each GP either 0.016 or 0.02 of an appointment per week – more than enough time to get a few extra rounds of golf in while avoiding all those patients attending the pharmacy. Maybe even enough time to see all the extras? 

And finally who is the minister involved? None other than Steve Brine MP the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Public Health and Primary Care. Good to know he knows so much about Primary Care and the difference this scheme will make to all those idle, overpaid, underworked GPs out there and such good value. If all GPs got what the pharmacists are getting from this scheme per patient contact he will solve the GP crisis over night. 

Now if a GP say sees 10,000 patients per year at £ 51.41 (choose your own figure from the above) per consultation how much would that be per year . . .?

Praise be to the Party for once again paying more than the cost of a normal GP consult to reduce GP workload by a massive 0.01176470588 %. An outstanding efficiency gain comrade commissar minister surely worthy of a commendation or knighthood for this one?