Former editor of The Sun newspaper Kelvin Mackenzie has expressed scepticism about a new NHS scheme offering GPs £20 bonuses for avoiding hospital referrals.
The Government has announced an £80million scheme where GPs in England will receive a £20 bonus each time they avoid referring patients directly to hospital.
The initiative aims to cut NHS waiting lists by diverting patients to community-based care instead of adding them to hospital queues.
Speaking to GB News, Mackenzie said: “I’m not sure the GPs know where is the line.
Kelvin Mackenzie blasted the scheme
GB NEWS
“I know in my own family somebody was sent to a hospital, which I was amazed that they were sent to hospital after a GP appointment.
“Actually, they were 101 per cent right. If that hadn’t been dealt with, that was going to become that little blob on the lady’s leg was going to become cancerous, right? No ifs and buts about it. It might have taken a year or two years.
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“I’m rather puzzled at this decision. And frankly, for £20, I mean most of the GP’s make way north of 100,000. If they’re partners, they’re probably making 120, 130,000 a year.
“I wouldn’t have thought £20 was neither here nor there for them. So I wonder whether this is like a this is Wes Streeting saying, I’ll tell you what, I need some publicity. I haven’t been in the papers a bit lately, how about this £20 jobby.
“I’d be very interested to see what percentage of the people that are coming to see a doctor, are being sent onto hospitals. And what effect the £20 will have on that decision of the doctor.”
Ministers hope the scheme will help reduce the 6.24 million people currently on NHS waiting lists in England.
Between July and December 2024, the scheme already diverted 660,000 treatments from hospitals into community settings.
Under the scheme, called ‘Advice and Guidance’, GPs consult specialists before making referrals, allowing patients to be treated in more convenient locations.
Practices will be paid the £20 sum if GPs consult a specialist on the phone or online first, regardless of the outcome.
The specialist will indicate if hospital referral is necessary or if alternatives could be explored.
GPs in England will receive a £20 payment each time they avoid referring a patient directly to hospital under a new government scheme aimed at cutting NHS waiting listsPAPatients might instead be prescribed medication, sent for preliminary scans or blood tests, or directed to community services such as physiotherapists.
Decisions on routine matters are typically returned within a week. Health Minister Karin Smyth said: “By caring for patients closer to home, we save time and stop masses of people having to head to hospital for unnecessary appointments in the first place.”
She added: “We are rewiring the NHS so that we are doing things differently, more efficiently and delivering better outcomes for patients.”
The minister described the scheme as “a perfect example of how we are saving patients time and reducing pressure on key NHS services in the process.”
