Company hired by the NHS emails 300,000 patients to ask if they would pay £10 to ‘see a doctor more quickly’
- Patients were asked for their views on privatising the health service in the email
- A 79-question survey was sent to people by the company running Patient Access
- Experts worry the company is trying to get people’s personal information
Thousands of NHS patients have been asked if they would pay £10 to see their GP more quickly.
And the 79-question survey emailed to 300,000 patients last week asked what people’s views are on privatising the health service.
It was sent by the company which runs Patient Access, a website run for the NHS where people can book GP appointments and order prescriptions.
But experts have criticised the ‘dubious’ survey, which also asked about online GP consultation apps, for testing whether people can be targeted by private companies.
The questions have been sent out at a time when 2.5 million people are in danger of losing their GP surgery, the NHS is offering doctors thousands of pounds to move from Australia, and millions are having to wait more than a week for an appointment.
A 79-question survey was emailed to 300,000 patients by the company which runs a website on behalf of the NHS which allows patients to book GP appointments or order repeat prescriptions
EMIS Health, which runs the NHS’s IT systems, sent out the survey from its website Patient Access to people who signed up to its mailing list.
The company says the survey will be used to ‘understand our users and their attitudes towards healthcare’, according to GP magazine Pulse.
It asks whether people are in favour of privatising services, and if they’ve heard of online providers such as the mobile apps GP at Hand, Evergreen and My GP.
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Patients were also asked: ‘Would you be interested in a service that for a small fixed monthly fee (under £10) allows you to avoid long waiting lists for medical consultations, diagnoses and treatments?’
People who have signed up for Patient Access will already have entered personal details which the company may have access to.
NHS GP SHORTAGE IS A ‘DESPERATE SITUATION’
Official figures showed in February that 41 per cent of GPs – around 10,000 doctors – are 50 or over and are expected to quit within the next five to ten years.
And 2.5 million patients are at risk of their local GP surgery closing because so many are relying on doctors who are close to retirement, it was last week revealed.
At the same time, fewer young doctors are choosing to specialise as GPs and are opting for other career paths as surgeons or specialists.
Many GPs are retiring in their 50s, moving abroad or leaving to work in the private sector, increasing the pressure on those who still work in the sector.
Appointment waiting times are getting longer and more people are going to A&E for minor illnesses because they can’t see a doctor.
Despite an NHS a plan to recruit 5,000 extra GPs by 2021, numbers of family doctors are falling.
And 762 GP practices across the UK could close within the next five years, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, last week told The Times: ‘This is a desperate situation with potentially serious consequences for patients.’
‘This recent marketing survey … seems to be a way to determine brand penetration of some online providers,’ Dr Alan Woodall, the chair of campaign group GP Survival, told Pulse.
‘While the data may be anonymised, it will no doubt deep mine their age, geographical location, income and preparedness for exploitation by private online consultation services.
‘I find that ethically dubious at best, not in the spirit of patient sign up, and hope that NHS IT commissioners and the [Information Commissioner’s Office] look carefully at this situation.’
Dr Neil Bhatia, a GP in Hampshire who runs a website about patient data sharing, added: ‘If I was answering the survey, I would be very concerned with what Patient Access intend to do with all this information provided by me, and whether this was going to be passed on to a third party.’
Earlier this year the British Medical Association turned down the idea of charging patients to see their GP in order to fund the NHS.
But concerns are growing about the state of GP surgeries.
Figures recently revealed 762 practices might close in the next five years because they’re relying on doctors who are close to retiring.
Millions of patients are waiting longer than a week to see a doctor, and as many as five per cent of people have been told to wait for more than three weeks.
And the NHS is offering doctors in Australia £18,500 each to leave the country and come to work for the UK health service.
Officials say the NHS is ‘pulling out all the stops’ to try and recruit more doctors because so many are leaving the health service.
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