The post you are reporting:
Courtesy of the Telegraph, seems a good idea to me.
Paramedics are set to be given new powers to prescribe medication in a bid to speed up access to treatment, and prevent thousands of needless hospital visits.Under the controversial reforms, ambulance workers with special training will be able to take on duties traditionally performed by GPs and hospital doctors - meaning many more patients can be treated on the spot.
Around two-thirds of 999 calls for medical help involve conditions which may need urgent help but are not immediately life-threatening - such as urinary tract infections in the elderly, and exacerbations of long-term conditions.However, legal restrictions on drug prescribing mean frail patients are routinely ferried to hospital, or forced to wait for GP home visits, in order to obtain the medication required.Simon Stevens, head of the health service, said the NHS is going “full speed ahead” with reforms of urgent care, including schemes which will allow paramedics to take on GPs home visits.
Paramedics are currently allowed to prescribe a limited number of drugs, on the authority of a doctor. Health officials want to expand their powers further, so that those with advanced training and several years’ experience are able to prescribe independently.The matter is currently under consideration by the Commission on Human Medicines, which advises ministers, and is expected to recommend in favour of the changes.
Paramedics have backed the plans, but patients groups last night raised concerns about whether the ambulance workers are skilled enough to make an accurate diagnosis. A number of areas have already drawn up plans to expand the use of paramedics to take on the home visits normally performed by GPs.
Family doctors said the expansion of such schemes would allow them spend up to spend longer on appointments in their surgeries, by sparing them time on the road.Doctors in Manchester said their £42m plans mean every GP could spend up to half an hour on surgery appointments which needed such attention, instead of the usual 10 minute slots.A separate pilot scheme in Lancashire found paramedics could deal with two thirds of home visits they were sent on, liaising with GPs about the remainder of cases, with 10 per cent brought to hospital.Dr Tracey Vell, chief executive of Manchester’s local medical committee, said paramedics had already started to do some home visits, with plans to expand the scheme further among its 500 practices.We need to consider changes to speed up access to treatment, and this may be the answer but I would be very cautious.