Only a third of doctors believe that personalised care plans for people with long-term conditions will improve the care patients can expect to receive, according to a recent poll.
The results of the poll, conducted by OnMedica, suggest commissioners are going to have to work hard to persuade doctors that personalised care plans will improve patient care.
The government has said that by 2010, all people with a long-term condition will be offered a personalised care plan.
Mark Platt, director of policy at National Voices, the new organisation representing patients, carers and health service users, said: “The government has already missed its own 2008 target of everyone with both long-term health and social care needs having an integrated care plan if they wanted one.
“For the government to have any chance of achieving its 2010 target, doctors will need to be brought alongside so that they understand how personalised care plans will benefit their patients.”
Dr Kamran Abbasi, CEO, OnMedica, said: “Doctors need to be convinced that personalised care plans are right for their patients.
“Many GPs are concerned that care plans could endanger continuity of care and that patients could be left to fend for themselves once they have been processed through the care planning system.”
Your comments (terms and conditions apply):
“Yes, definitely. Doctors in general seem to know very lttle about government policy (valuing people, long-term conditions NSF, person-centred planning, health action plans, etc – I suspect that they will only really want to know when the government exerts sufficient incentive/coercion” – Ken Mullen, Liverpool
