Put this date in your diaries Wed 22 Jul 2015 10.40pm – 11.40pm on ITV
Exposure: NHS Out Of Hours Undercover
Exposure goes undercover in a privately-run NHS out-of-hours centre and finds doctors not fully trained, targets being manipulated, and patients being asked to assess their own symptoms because the unit is too busy. According to the last GP-patient survey, almost half the public have no idea how to contact out-of-hours services, and last year the Royal College of General Practitioners said doctors were being undermined by ‘a chaotic and underfunded system’.
Covert footage filmed at a centre run by the UK’s biggest private provider of out-of-hours care shows chronic understaffing and medicine cabinets empty of vital drugs. Staff say recent changes aimed at hitting financial targets have affected the service they provide to patients. And experts who view the footage with reporter Mark Austin give a damning assessment of what they see, saying the practices on show could pose a risk to patients’ health.
Prof Susan Mason, one of the country’s top experts in emergency care, says: “I would have concerns that patient care is not at the heart of what they’re doing… I don’t think this is really in line with the true values of the NHS.” Dr Peter Holden, the British Medical Association’s special advisor on urgent and unscheduled care, says: “I have to say, if I worked a shift in this [unit], it would only be a single shift and I’d be blowing whistles… I’d be telling them what I thought.”
The producer-director of this programme is Richard Butchins, and the executive producer is David Henshaw, for Hardcash.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Exposure, ITV, NHS out of hours, Undercover
Pretty damning report.Not surprised tho’.Privatised from nhs in 2013 and same old same o.Not enough staff.Recruitment put on hold til deal secured on stock market having appointed Rothschilds for sell off of care uk business divisions.Striked 90 days against savage cuts in 2014.Hope we fare better with this new company.
Patients should always take priority over profit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
this is lots of good doctor out here like doctor David Drew
@NHSwhistleblowr its doctor like HIM you need to run the n.h.s and lots more its just that the GMCUK & #CQC IS CORRUPTED TO THE CORE
LikeLike