In response to GPs’ demands for a new contract for treating patients in care homes, Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Independent Age, the older people’s charity, said:
“Doctors should never opt out of a patient's care because the level of treatment they need is higher or because they have “complex needs”. It is vital that residents of care homes are not overlooked or treated any differently just because they live in a care home.
"We are concerned a two tier system could emerge where frail and elderly patients lose out on the consistent care they need because GPs have other priorities. We know that GPs feel under strain from increasing demands on their surgeries but this is not the solution.”