Learning difficulties scandal

Abstract

Last month's primary care scandal was the news that overpaid GPs are to be paid even more to provide annual health checks for people with learning difficulties.1 Press reports carried familiar themes. Although it is now universally accepted that the NHS should be administered according to the principles of the capitalist market, it is regarded as a disgrace that doctors' pay should rise in response to an increase in demand for their services. It is apparently even more offensive to public sensibilities that GPs should expect to be remunerated for an increased burden of work at a rate comparable with that received by a plumber. The real scandal obscured by these reports is that the healthcare needs of people with learning difficulties …