Emergency prescribing and ‘shared care’ withdrawn by GPs

Emergency prescribing and monitoring of patients with severe mental health conditions are among services being cancelled by GP practices as part of “collective action”.

Although the action, primarily over funding, began in the summer, growing numbers of practices are now cancelling local enhanced services, according to multiple board papers and other documents.

A common theme among those being “handed back” or cancelled is prescribing and monitoring for people who have severe mental health conditions, neurological conditions, and other long-term conditions.

Practices are often refusing “shared care” arrangements with secondary care, where patients with long-term conditions, including mental health illness, are meant to be monitored and supported by GPs, but also overseen by specialists. 

These are often funded and determined by integrated care boards locally, as “local enhanced services” or “locally commissioned services”, although they are often similar in different systems.

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Source: HSJ, 20 November 2024