‘Catch all’ strategies prescribed indiscriminately (and that must be completed before other services are accessed) can’t possibly be the right approach.  Sure, it is a way to manipulate waiting time information to show an improvement.  No doubt it will reduce demand too, as some families simply can’t face it or can’t manage to get there and will stop asking for help, and yes, some may discover their issues can be resolved this way.

However, it’s no different to treating every possibly infected patient with the same bucket load of antibiotics before you allow them to see the GP – some will be made better, some will be in a diabolical state and some would have got better on their own.  It lacks intelligence and thought.  When applied without thought and judgement on an individualised basis it’s a lazy, broad brush, one size fits all pathway.

Just to state the obvious…