PHC proposes integration of GPs with healthcare system

Lahore: The Punjab Healthcare Commission on Saturday initiated a proposal for integrating general practitioners' clinics with the secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities of the healthcare system, and a two-way referral linkage would be developed to improve patient care and optimise resource allocation.

In this regard, a consultative meeting with the representatives of the Pakistan Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP) was held at the PHC head office with Chief Executive Officer PHC Dr Muhammad Saqib Aziz in the chair. 

Dr Muhammad Saqib Aziz highlighted the gaps in the referral of patients from the GPs to the healthcare system for specialised care. He shared the highlights of the proposal for integration of services, and said that it would serve as a win-win situation for both the receivers and providers of healthcare. He mentioned that the Commission was in continuous consultation with all its stakeholders, and the meeting was a step towards attaining consensus on another initiative.

During the meeting, challenges faced by the healthcare system, including overcrowding and long waiting times were highlighted with particular emphasis on the potential of GPs in managing primary care needs and to act as gatekeepers by only referring complex cases of patients to higher-level facilities, who needed specialised care.

The proposal outlined several key benefits, which include that all patients would have a designated GP as their first point of contact and at the same time improving access to primary care along with building capacity of the GPs.

This would also lessen overcrowding in specialised hospitals, allowing them to focus on more complex cases. Standardised training and referral protocols would ensure consistent high-quality care across the system. Finally, the financial incentives, like inclusion in different national health insurance programmes and access to zero-interest loans from the Punjab Health Foundation to facilitate the GPs for establishing clinics, would also make participation attractive for the family physicians. The joint working would create a more efficient and equitable healthcare system for everyone in Punjab.

Furthermore, an outline of standardised prescription practices was also presented to the representatives of PAFP. The proposal on integration also entails capacity-building of the GPs in building their clinical and patient management skills by using standardised patient management guidelines for acute emergencies, communicable and non-communicable diseases through structured training programmes, to be designed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan and the University of Health Sciences. The proposal also envisions including only those GPs in the integrated referral linkages, who have gone through such a training programme.

The participants appreciated the PHC for its effort to pursue grading and ranking of hospitals for the betterment of services. The participants acknowledged that the GP clinics would benefit from opportunities for formal training and recognition of their services, not only in the community but also by the formal healthcare delivery system.

 It was observed that the empanelling of clinics would also create financial security and sustainability for the GPs. It was agreed that an action plan for implementation was to be formulated for future broader consensus.