DAUK’s GP lead Dr Lizzie Toberty has warned that “we are very quickly going to see two-tier healthcare.”
Speaking to i News, Dr Toberty said that the loss of GPs in primary care would result in market forces taking over.
“Those who can pay will pay to access a GP,” she said. “But the costs of that seem out of reach for most normal, everyday people. What worries me across general practice and across secondary care now is that access is becoming so difficult that it is driving up the cost of private care and that we are very quickly going to see two-tier healthcare.”
She told i News there were fears the situation would become “similar to that in dentistry”: “Whereby if you have a GP surgery that is able to provide NHS care then that’s great – but that will not be of the same quality that is provided privately. And you can already see a huge growth in the numbers of both primary and secondary private providers.
“I am most worried for our elderly patients and those with multiple health issues who really need that continuity from the same GP.”
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