[the truth]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/87ea23be-b...#axzz472tI2hZF

Im afraid the entire doctors dispute started yet again with that idiot tony blair

Strathclyde Jan 12, 2016
A major milestone in the beginning of the serious rot in the NHS seems to have slipped from the memories of both journalists and politicians. Huge problems were architected into the NHS with the new 2004 GP contracts awarded by the Blair government of the time. GPs (and the BMA) couldn't believe their luck. The GPs until then had been responsible for their patients 24/7, with home visits and weekend callout the norm, all for a salary of £55K.. Overnight, the GP became "office hours" workers, able to opt out of out-of-hours and weekend cover, with only a 6% cut in basic salary.... but with opportunity of "managing" all sorts of targets to supplement their basic. Within a year or two, GPs were earning >£100K pa, easily doubling (and more) their historic earnings, for much less work.
Then began a succession of layer upon layer of 'initiatives' to fill the gaps in healthcare, starting with NHS Direct, which finally collapsed under the strain of trying to fill in the gaps and pretend that "care" could be provide over the phone by an anonymous operator, with only general medical experience and zero knowledge of the patient history.
So today, the GPs can enjoy salaries close to Consultant level, but it's no longer a choice for a medic that wants to actually look after people. Hence the current desperate shortage of medical graduates opting for GP work, since so much of the 'mission' they dreamed of has disappeared.
Lessons should have been learned from Blair's disastrous experiment, but they clearly haven't, with Hunt claiming that junior doctors are receiving a pay increase, but somehow it's all happening with zero increase in NHS costs, yet delivering the 7-day NHS "full service".... with many more patients, all of whom are living longer.