Older patients should be moved close to home

Many health services such as outpatient appointments and dementia care should be moved out of hospitals and provided closer to the patients' home, a group of GPs have stated.

Speaking to the Guardian, Dr Michael Dixon, who represented more than 200 clinical commission groups, said the NHS needs to cut "an awful lot of fat" from its budget, while healthcare needs to be friendlier to the patient.

One suggestion he made is moving older patients out of hospital beds and arranging for them to be cared for in their own homes.

"A very large amount of what's currently done in hospitals could or should be done elsewhere. I think 50 per cent," he said.

He added that the implications of this will be hospitals becoming places where people only go when they are extremely ill.

This cost cutting suggestion has been backed by Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents hospitals.

Read more about Barchester's dementia care homes