Hospital hotline for GPs

GPs may be able to speak to consultants on the hotline

A hotline for doctors could be created in Cumbria to help them decide whether a patient needs referring to hospital.

A survey of 36 GP practices in north Cumbria found doctors are unable to get a specialist opinion when deciding what treatment a patient needed.

As a result, some patients are being sent to hospital unnecessarily.

Discussions are under way into whether a phone line, manned by consultants, could be set up to give doctors a second opinion.

If it does prevent an admission, that does actually save money because a bed is not being used

Dr Rob Walker

Last month is was revealed financial problems at the West Cumberland Hospital, in Whitehaven, and the Cumberland Infirmary, in Carlisle, had led to cuts of more than £2m in services.

North Cumbria Acute Hospitals Trust said GPs would be asked to help save money by seriously considering whether a patient needed hospital treatment before referring them.

Dr Rob Walker, the clinical director of the North Cumbria Primary Care Trust, told BBC Radio Cumbria the hotline service would help save money.

Huge interest

"It is really a question of reorganising existing resources.

"If it does prevent an admission, that does actually save money because a bed is not being used.

"It is about redesigning and reorganising things and not about putting thousands and thousands more pounds into the system."

He added: "This study has caused an immense amount of interest amongst colleagues in primary care and in hospitals.

Safe at home

"Most studies in the past have looked at people who are already in hospital and said with the benefit of hindsight whether they needed to be in or they didn't.

"We have actually got the GPs to give the reasons for admission while they are in the patients house making that decision.

"This study shows there are a small group of patients where GPs genuinely are not sure whether it is safe to leave someone at home.

"What they really need is another opinion fairly rapidly."