Hospitals ‘need to take on smaller role in care delivery’

Doctors are planning to introduce more community-oriented care provision models that would diminish the role played by hospitals, according to a GPs' leader.

Dr Michael Dixon, the interim president of NHS Clinical Commissioners, told the Guardian that the introduction of new decision-making power for GPs under the Health and Social Care Act will likely lead to many hospitals being downsized or closed.

He suggested that medical professionals believe that as much as 50 percent of the services currently provided by hospitals would be better delivered in community settings that are closer to patients' homes, particularly when it comes to treating frail and elderly people.

According to Dr Dixon, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will take a central role in deciding how these changes will take place, with an eye towards reducing the NHS' overall spending levels.

"The implications are that hospitals would need to downsize and become places where you go if you are very ill or need very specialist care," he explained.

CCGs were introduced at the beginning of this month with the stated aim of giving doctors more control over how NHS services are designed and paid for, coming as part of large-scale government reforms of the health service.