The government has announced that personal care plans are to be made part of routine primary health care on the NHS. GPs have not welcomed this news warmly, claiming that it will just be another pressure for already overstretched doctors. The news comes as ministers have given further details of reforms of basic health services this week, and means that all patients with a chronic condition will have an individually designed health care plan by the end of 2010. Patients, including those with a mental health condition, will be able to decide what treatment and services they will have access to, with the advice of their GP, carer and other NHS staff.

It’s all in an attempt to increase patient choice to ensure that people are getting the best treatments to suit their individual needs, and although doctors agree that the service is a beneficial step, they have raised their concerns about the amount of extra time they will have to commit. Wigan GP and president of the Primary Care Rheumatology Society, Dr Adam Bajkowski told ‘Pulse’, “We just don’t have the facilities to easily call these patients up and there is no agreed plan about what we should be doing with these patients anyway. These plans are not in the real world and come from someone who has never worked as a GP."

With even more pressure on GPs, it may be likely that even more people will be getting a quote for private medical insurance to ensure the choice that is not necessarily guaranteed by the NHS. Cash plan policies, like those offered by Freedom Healthnet, give patients the option of whether to receive their treatment in a private hospital with good quality and efficient services, or in a NHS facility if they wish. Policy holders also have the choice to travel abroad and will get a lump cash sum to help towards the cost of their care.