53rd Annual General Meeting

1
Reservation for this event is essential. Please
complete and return to the faculty office with
payment Name _______________________________
________ Address_______________________________
________ Email ____________________________
___________ Telephone __________________________
___________ I require______tickets for dinner at
45.00 (incl. VAT) each. Please make payment to
North of England Faculty and send to Clare
Bartram, The Surgery, Oxford Road, Spennymoor, Co
Durham, DL16 6YQ.
53rd Annual General Meeting
The North of England Faculty Royal College of
General Practitioners
Date Thursday 16th November 2006
Held at The Three Tuns Durham
6.40pm Annual General Meeting (members
only) 7.00pm - Presentation of the Provosts
Prize 7.15pm - Andrew Smith Lecture - provided
by Professor Allyson Pollock (Centre for
International Public Health Policy). Entitled
"Does the future of primary care lie in the hands
of shareholders and the corporate sector?
-Professor Allyson Pollock (Preview overleaf).
Tables will be in rounds of 10 people, if you are
unable to make up a complete table or wish to
join another party please provide details or
guests names ______ ______________________________
___________ ______________________________________
___ Please state any dietary requirements
_____________ ____________________________________
_____ _________________________________________
2
"By the time I give this talk the era of General
practice as we knew it will almost be over.
General practices will increasingly be owned and
operated by corporations or consortia of GPs and
venture capitalists and traded on the stock
market. For the first time in 60 years money and
ability to pay, rather than need, will come
between the doctor and the patient. The focus on
profits and cost containment strategies will mean
that the role of the practitioner is to redefine
eligibility for care and NHS care will
increasingly be reduced to a core basic package
where additional necessary care will be provided
through private insurance or top up fees. GP
companies, over time will become US HMOs.
Practice based commissioning will allow the 80
of the NHS budget which is currently held by PCTs
to pass to new primary care companies which in
turn will buy and sell services from themselves
or in private partnership with other companies.
Over time four or five companies will dominate
and patients will see existing services close and
their rights to care overturned, the open-ended
commitment to care will have become sentimental
folklore. This has come to pass through the
greed of a handful of GP negotiators at the BMA
who in turn will be among the first beneficiaries
of corporate care. But it is also due to the
indifference of many GPs who in failing to inform
themselves of what is happening are failing in
their own professional duty of care to patients.
The conflicts of interest which have now been
introduced make it highly unlikely that GPs will
unite to champion the needs of their patients for
universal health services." 8.15pm - Annual
Dinner
Directions
The Hotel is easily accessible from the A1 (M)
via the A690. Durham train station is a three
minute taxi ride away, and has frequent intercity
services to the south and Scotland. From the A1
(M) Exit the Motorway at Junction 62 and follow
signs for Durham City Centre. At the first
roundabout go straight over and at the second
roundabout turn left. Go through the traffic
lights and the Hotel is situated on the left hand
side.
Collage Grace The Provost God be praised for
food and friends Inspire our skills, Kindle
our compassion. Amen