The Government should put GP receptionists in charge of border control, because that way no one will ever get in.
So goes the joke told to me by a friend who has been waiting for days to see his local doctor. My apologies for being flippant on such sensitive subjects but the joke hits two nails on the head neatly.
Black humour has a way of getting to the root of a problem. Sadly, it describes all too well the despair felt by the thousands of people who can’t get to see their GP.
Many of them have decided not to bother. Instead, they are turning to private health care in astonishing numbers as shown by Britain’s biggest insurer, Aviva.
Over the last year 170,000 new health insurance customers have signed up, either directly or through their employer.
Waiting lists: Over the last year 170,000 new health insurance customers have signed up, either directly or through their employer
Aviva now has a million private health customers, making it the third-biggest after Bupa and Axa, which also both report a big swing in new signings.
You can see why. Waiting lists are at a record, with 7.6m people in England waiting for routine NHS treatment in June.
Two in five patients are waiting for four months. With junior doctors striking again, it’s only going to get worse. Yet getting to see a GP is still the biggest logjam in far too many parts of the country.
Unlike most European health services, you can’t get into the system in the UK unless you go via a GP – another reason why the process needs radical overhaul.
One doctor friend who runs a nearby private practice suggests that GP surgeries should adopt more of a triage process, operating more like mini A&E departments to get the sick seen more quickly, and then on to treatment.
Booking for urgent appointments by the 8am deadline is nonsense too, he says, and only creates more blockages.
Breaking the GP logjam is essential, and the main reason why private health insurance is set to soar still higher.
Aviva boss Amanda Blanc says the demand for services like digital GPs through video and text is huge. So is demand for scans like MRIs and CTs.
Aviva has been smart to meet this – its venture capital arm has invested in the diagnostic imaging company Scan, which allows patients to book their own scans.
What this means is that more people get access to otherwise under-utilised NHS capacity.
Going private works well even without private insurance: a friend had a heart scare a few months ago and was able to talk to a GP at the Cambridge Private Practice via Zoom – and be scanned – within days of the first consultation at the local Nuffield hospital. The cost was £500, including the prognosis. Needs must.
Having private medical insurance is no longer taboo, and no longer the preserve of the middle classes and the wealthy.
Aviva says that applications for insurance are coming from a much broader and younger demographic.
More companies than ever are signing up their staff to medical schemes in the pursuit of improving their overall ‘wellness’.
Some may see this growing trend as privatisation of the NHS through the backdoor.
A more sensible view is that, for some, going private is the only way through the GP’s front door until the NHS undergoes more fundamental reform.
Hard core
Inflation is finally falling, and falling fast. That’s the brighter news.
Less good is that core inflation remains sticky, wage growth is strong while productivity is flat.
Not a great recipe, which means it’s a racing certainty the Bank of England will hike interest rates next month, and later in the autumn.
Small businesses and homeowners will be hit the hardest.
If it does push up rates, the danger is the Bank triggers a recession, driving many of the SMEs the country depends on for animal spirits into the ground as well as provoking a housing crash.
Maybe that is the Bank’s policy?
If not, it should explain why higher rates will bring down external factors which are mainly to do with supply chains, still abnormally high energy costs and a tight labour market with 2.6m not working because of sickness.
That’s not the fix we need.
Going Dutch
The Netherlands – the eurozone’s fifth biggest economy – has followed Germany into technical recession.
Falling exports, a big drop in households buying basic day to day goods and an increase in imports are why.
Going Dutch is no longer so attractive.
