This is the script from my latest podcast.
Hello. It’s
Robert Baggs here and thank you for joining me for my latest Friday podcast.
Well it’s
certainly all been happening this week on the covid front. The good news is, as
I suggested in my podcast last week, that we are now looking at the end of the
so-called plan B, which included the mask mandate, working from home and the
requirement for covid passes to gain entry to venues and events.
However, I’m
not totally convinced by this apparent return to normal. It seems all too
convenient that this happened when Prime Minister Johnson was hanging on to
office by the finest of threads with news that the Conservative 1922 Committee
had received the appropriate number of letters from MP’s calling for a vote of
confidence in him, which could have resulted in him having to resign.
It does seem
too good to be true and it has to be said, yet again, that the parties held by
the politicians and staff were an absolute disgrace, but why are the details
being leaked now and were not at the time the parties took place? You have to
ask if it has been a deliberate distraction and if so what is going on in the
background that they are averting our eyes from?
We will find
out soon enough I am sure but Johnson seems to have hung on by the skin of his teeth.
Many people
think Johnson has done a wonderful job, however, in managing this alleged
pandemic and now that he has advised the restrictions are coming to an end,
when his career was in the balance, he has almost become a national hero to
some.
Not to me
however, I don’t mind admitting that I voted for him back in 2019, expecting
great things, but how wrong I was. Never again!
In my view
he is a total failure, he has essentially destroyed much of the economy, he has
deprived us of two years of living normal lives, particularly affecting our
children whose education and social development has been ruined with many of
them struggling to catch up.
But most of
all he has destroyed what was generally a pretty cohesive society, although obviously
it had pockets of very vocal groups that are always going to be unhappy. But
what he has done is to turn those who agreed with how he managed the pandemic
against those who disagreed, this resulting in families and friends turning
against each other with devastating results.
There is a
general nastiness in society that didn’t exist before, with much of it relating
to who is happy to have a covid jab and those selfish anti-vaxxers who aren’t!
Examples of
the nastiness that I have witnessed and experienced includes a comment on
social media relating to a news item that Djokovic may never compete in a
tennis event again. An acquaintance of mine commented “Good!”. It may be that
Djokovic doesn’t actually need to compete having earned enough to keep him
comfortable for the rest of his life, but the principle behind the comment is
that because someone has taken a decision they feel is wrong then they have no
right to earn a living and support their families. A very nasty attitude.
Similarly
I’ve seen comments that suggests that those who don’t tow the line and get
jabbed, should be denied medical treatment should they need it, again, a very
nasty attitude.
Worst of all
was the woman in a café saying she hoped that unvaccinated people die as they
are the reason we are in this mess.
From what
I’ve seen, almost all of those screaming for lockdowns and all of the
associated measures have covid-proof lives and jobs. So perhaps they should
have walked a mile in the shoes of those who don’t and whose lives have been
ruined.
But now
we’re looking at plan B coming to an end and it’s very interesting to see all
those so-called celebrities, on the radio and TV, as well as social media,
backtracking on their previous staunch support for lockdowns and associated
measures. Jeremy Vine for example was talking about the most ridiculous
measures taken, despite previously being keen for stricter lockdowns, but now
thinks that tying up swings in playparks so children couldn’t use them, was one
of those ridiculous measures.
Also various
news channels have been reporting on the mis-counting of alleged covid deaths
as well as the fact that we need to treat covid in the same way as we do the
flu, as every year we have many dying from that as well.
Then there
is Dr Hilary, another covidian, who now thinks it’s a step too far that NHS
staff will be sacked for refusing their jabs, whilst having previously been one
of the nasty people. However no-one seems to want to ask the question as to why
an estimated 100,000 NHS staff would rather put their jobs before having this
jab. It doesn’t add up does it?
Several
years ago, when writing a previous blog, I was asked why I was so angry. I
replied that I wasn’t angry, I just felt it necessary to speak out against what
I felt was wrong and that’s why I do what I do. If I do come across as angry
then it might be worth looking back at how I see this so-called pandemic began,
around two years ago, and how it progressed.
Well, we all
remember the pictures of how it started with people dropping dead on the
streets in China – which turned out to be a lie;
Apparently bodies
were piling up - turned out to be a lie;
Hospitals
were being overrun - turned out to be a lie;
Three weeks
to flatten the curve - turned out to be a lie;
There was to
be no mask mandate - turned out to be a lie;
Only the
elderly and vulnerable will need to be jabbed - turned out to be a lie;
Once jabbed
we can return back to normal - turned out to be a lie;
Children
will never have to be jabbed - turned out to be a lie;
No vaccine
passports - turned out to be a lie;
No mandatory
vaccine for jobs - turned out to be a lie.
Lies, lies
and more lies – so anyone would have a right to be angry.
Anyway it seems
that Johnson is now telling the truth, like he did when he was ill with covid,
very ill, on a ventilator allegedly, could have died apparently. Then within
two weeks he was partying.
Having been
diagnosed with covid last August there was absolutely no way that I would have
felt like partying for quite some time afterwards and I spent a minimal time in
hospital. So was Johnson ill or did it just help create the fear necessary for controlling
the masses? It’s hard to believe anything that comes out of the man’s mouth.
Which brings
me nicely on to my final news item – the BBC, and it seems their days, being
funded through a tax, are numbered after a government review that was reported
on this week. Years ago the BBC was THE station to rely on for the truth and their
impartiality, or that’s certainly my memory of them.
Now BBC
presenters insult us, patronise us, call us thick, call us racists, sneer at
our values, mock our flag , think we need re-educating, … so they shouldn’t be surprised that we no
longer want to pay their obscenely inflated salaries anymore.
So, on to
“How GP Surgeries Are Funded”. I started my career with the NHS in 1992 and
spent the last 15 years of that career working as a Practice Manager in GP
surgeries so part of my job included the responsibility to ensure that the
finances were run efficiently, managing accounts and reporting to the partners
as necessary. I’ve been retired for over 7 years now so some of the following
may be a little vague and so is an overview that is hopefully of some interest.
It may come
as news to some that GPs are actually independent contractors running their own
businesses, in which they are partners, and who work under contract to the NHS
to provide general and personal medical services to the community.
This
essentially means they look after your health, for a fee, on behalf of the NHS,
or the government.
When I
started as a Practice Manager in 1999, the fees and allowances were to be found
in a manual referred to as the Red Book, so called as it was a manual kept in a
red folder.
This was
introduced via a new GP Contract in 1990 and included a set annual fee per
patient referred to as a capitation payment, with a little extra for older
patients for example, plus separate fees and allowances for individual
treatments and patients with specific conditions, for example asthma or
diabetes where the demands on the GP would be more than those for patients
without those conditions. Targets were also set for certain treatments and
which GPs were required to meet to achieve payment.
These fees
would be calculated quarterly based on patient list details, that is, numbers
of patients and numbers of those with certain conditions.
A total
payment was then calculated and paid on a monthly basis into the practice
account and from this all practice expenses, staff salaries and pensions,
building and maintenance costs, medical and other supplies and so on, would be
paid. What was left over was then divided up and paid to the partners.
Accountants were engaged who would review a particular years finances to
estimate what was known as the partners drawings as well as the amount they
considered necessary to save for tax.
Then in 2004
a new GMS Contract came into force, abolishing the Red Book and resulting in a
significant but temporary increase in some practices’ income. Each practice
received a share of the total amount of money allocated towards primary care
and this was known as the global sum.
This share is determined by the practice's list
size, and again was adjusted for age and sex of the patients (for example, children,
women and the elderly have higher weights than young men because they cause a
greater workload).
However, how this was calculated and paid remained very much the
same.
At the same time the Government introduced
the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) which was designed to give GPs the incentive to do more
work and fulfil government-set requirements (a total of 146 indicators) to earn
points (of which there were varying amounts per indicator) and which translated
into a greater income. The money for the QOF was taken out of the "Global
Sum", so is not really new extra money.
Participation in the QOF is voluntary but since the
standards change each year, practically all practices participating have to do
more work each year for the same income. However, the substantial additional
workload of QOF has led to substantial improvements in the screening for risk
factors in the community by primary care.
This also included, what were known as enhanced
services which allowed GP’s to provide even more services resulting in more
income.
Both this and QOF, although essentially forcing an
increase in standards, changed how GP’s worked, such that their focus was more
on their income than necessarily the level of care given to patients. An
example of this can be seen from a comment I came across on Facebook made by a
GP and is as follows:-
“Spend most days either vaccinating or thinking
about vaccinating. Occasionally get to do a full days GP which is lovely and
reminds me I still like it. 50,000 vaccines given to our small primary care
network. About 15-20,000 more to do to finish and then boosters!”
The enhanced service for providing covid jabs shows
that for each jab the GP’s surgery would receive £12.58 rising to £15.00 from
December last year. We all know that GP services have generally, in the last
two years, been abysmal and so you would think that their income from the other
services they should provide would suffer but, no, it seems that QOF payments
have been protected, based on previous years, as there is a pandemic going on.
However based on the comment above and the rates paid, nigh on an additional
million pounds will have been paid to that particular group of GP’s since jabs
have been available.
I’ll leave the listener to come to their own
conclusion on this.
A final note
on this is to say that an amendment to the GP contract required all practices
to publish their earnings on their websites. Take a look at your surgery and
see if you believe what you read, but bear in mind that an article published in
the Health Service Journal on the 21st September 2015, said that “in
2013/14 in practices with 6 or more GP’s average gross earnings were £99,100”.
So, I hope
that was of some interest.
Thank you again
for listening and thank you particularly to those who took time out to contact
me with comments and support.
Next week,
as well as briefly touching on the news events of the week, I hope to talk
about how certain pillars of society we once respected, are respected no more, so
hope you can join me for that.
In the
meantime, trust nobody and keep holding that line, it seems we may now be
looking at the beginning of the end, we shall see.
Keep out of
mischief and I hope that you can join me on Friday 28th January. Bye
for now.
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