Half Britain's GPs have such little confidence in the NHS that they would not be happy to rely on it for their own or their family's health care. A large number of them are going private in order to avoid the delays inflicted on their patients. In a staggering vote of no confidence for the system in which they work, a third of family doctors pay for their own private health insurance - compared with one in 10 of the rest of the population.
A further 13 per cent of GPs are considering getting private medical insurance, according to a survey published tomorrow in the medical newspaper GP .
NHS waiting times even for life-saving operations - such as heart bypasses - are up to 18 months. Unlike hospital doctors, who routinely get their colleagues to put them at the front of the queue when they need treatment, GPs usually have to wait as long as the general public.
Britain's largest health insurer, Bupa, has reported that applications for its discounted private health scheme for doctors has risen 5 per cent so far this year.
Many GPs become alarmed about NHS treatment because they regularly see how much their own their patients suffer. Dr Dhirendra Das, a GP from Salford, said: 'The NHS waiting list is for dying.' Buckinghamshire GP Dr Robert Jordan said: 'I am saddened by the poor quality of care provided by the NHS.'
Overall, 57 per cent of GPs said they would use the NHS if they needed major surgery, suggesting that almost half of GPs wouldn't. Only 59 per cent of GPs would recommend the NHS for even routine surgery to a close friend. Walsall GP Dr Kakshmanan Nambisan said: 'The NHS is good for emergencies but not for elective treatment.'
Joyce Robins , founder of the pressure group Patient Concern, said: 'GPs have the inside track on knowing what goes on. Many treatments that GPs send their patients off for, they wouldn't have themselves. It's not their fault - it's the under-resourcing and the fact that the government has let the NHS fall into decay. There is a culture in hospitals that doctors and nurses go along with a standard of care that is not good enough for anyone.'
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: 'We recognise there are difficulties in the health services. The NHS National Plan is aimed at addressing these. We hope that GPs will be part of the solution.' As part of the National Plan, launched in July, Health Secretary Alan Milburn promised to cut waiting times for non-urgent operations, in some cases to as little as three months.
However, it is not only GPs who have lost faith in the NHS. Over a million civil servants, and employees of BT and the Post Office are members of a private health care scheme based at Benendon Hospital in Kent. Members include some of the senior officials at the Department of Health.
Some of Britain's top trade union leaders are also members of private health insurance schemes, as are many officials of Britain's largest health workers' union, Unison.
The general public are also increasingly going private. The number of people paying for one-off operations in private hospitals has risen very sharply over the last two years. Almost 30 per cent of all hip replacements in Britain are now done in the private sector to avoid lengthy waiting times.
anthony.browne@observer.co.uk
