OVER recent days, the NHS has been in the headlines again, and once more we find ourselves asking how we can ensure our healthcare system remains sustainable into the future.

The NHS is an outstanding healthcare system, where the overwhelming majority of staff work extremely hard to deliver the best care for their patients when increases in demand and the expectations of the public are rising, yet funding levels remain tightly constrained.

Therefore, it was very useful for me to speak at length to a local GP last week about some of the challenges facing the profession.

We expect the NHS to look after us from cradle to grave – but when people are living around one-third longer than previously and more than half our retired population has a long-term health condition, we will need to do things differently, as well as ensuring sufficient resources are pumped into the system.

This is why the Government has handed commissioning power to GPs, who know the local populations and their healthcare needs best.

It makes a great deal of sense to allow them to decide who the most appropriate organisation to provide healthcare services is. And whether they are public, private or voluntary providers is a matter for them, not politicians.

The Royal College of GPs estimates that every GP practice dealt with more than 4,300 more appointments in 2012 than in 2004, reflecting the changing public use of primary care. I was interested to read Cllr Dr McKeown’s recent proposal at the BMA Conference to introduce a charge for GP appointments, and the reaction to it.

We clearly do need to ask questions about how the NHS can cope with rising demand and encourage appropriate use of resources which are not infinite. The King’s Fund estimates that around half of all GP appointments go to patients with long term conditions: we need to look at how we can provide better care in the community and support patients to manage their conditions first, as well as help the public stay healthy by taking responsible steps to prevent unnecessary use of public resources in the first place.