Dr Phil Moore, the clinical lead for mental health for five of the south-west London Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) (Wandsworth Guardian, January 8) seems to be clairvoyant.

The plans being drawn by the CCGs envisage drastic cuts in mental health services in the south-west London area.

CCGs were created by the 2013 Health and Social Care Act and are widely regarded as a costly failure that has contributed to the crisis in the NHS. They added yet another layer of bureaucracy to a health service that was already riddled with paperwork since the creation of an internal market in 1990.

Dr Moore must surely be aware there is a general election coming and that the Labour Party is committed to the abolition of the act. So, depending on the outcome it could spell the end of CCGs, and GPs, like Dr Moore, can then relinquish their role in the CCG bureaucracy and return full time to the job they were trained for.

Even if there is not a change of Government and, perish the thought, CCGs are still with us, any health proposals emanating from them, including mental health proposals must first be put to a ballot of GPs.

The public has a right to know if GPs support the proposals being put forward on their behalf by the CCG boards.

All trade unions must hold a ballot of their members before any action. We expect no less from the boards of CCGs.

To ensure that such democratic practice takes place fortunately we have health overview and scrutiny committees, health and wellbeing boards and Healthwatch, plus our own elected representatives.

They will all be keeping an eye open to ensure any proposals on changes to health services are fully approved by GPs – not just by CCG boards.

So, Dr Moore does seem to be rather jumping the gun. No changes to mental health services in south-west London can take place before the election, and after it there may not be any CCGs anyway.

In addition any changes will need to be approved by local GPs.

Two obstacles to overcome, Dr Moore – I admire both your clairvoyance and your optimism.

Dr MIKE SQUIRES
Balham

 


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