Helen Salisbury: If GPs aren’t formally part of the NHS, what are we?

Abstract

One of the huge attractions of practising medicine in the UK is that we can make our treatment decisions according to our patient’s clinical need, not their ability to pay. Most of the time, I don’t need to tailor my clinical advice to what my patient can afford or whether they’re insured—although I do have to think about money, about the capacity of the NHS as a whole and its finances. This is one of the many reasons I’m proud and happy to be a GP in the NHS. I was therefore shocked to …