10,000 signatures reached
To: Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt
Save our GP surgeries
Please fund general practices fairly, and reverse the effects of your decision to withdraw the minimum practice income guarantee (MPIG), which is threatening large numbers of surgeries with bankruptcy.
Please change the funding formula to take account of the effects of deprivation, both inner city and rural so that all practices are fairly funded.
Please change the funding formula to take account of the effects of deprivation, both inner city and rural so that all practices are fairly funded.
Why is this important?
In 2004 the government changed the funding formula for GP surgeries and didn't take account of the fact that in deprived areas people have higher health needs. Many practices would have gone bankrupt, so they introduced something called the 'minimum practice income guarantee' (MPIG) to stop practices falling below their previous level of income.
Now the government is taking away the MPIG and many practices are threatened with bankruptcy again. Good quality surgeries (who spend the most, employing more staff to provide the best possible service to patients) will be the first to go. This will open the door for more GP surgeries run by large private firms on the cheap.
The government is targeting poor areas to push it's agenda of increasing privatisation of the health service.
Now the government is taking away the MPIG and many practices are threatened with bankruptcy again. Good quality surgeries (who spend the most, employing more staff to provide the best possible service to patients) will be the first to go. This will open the door for more GP surgeries run by large private firms on the cheap.
The government is targeting poor areas to push it's agenda of increasing privatisation of the health service.
