01 December 2006
A patient survey that will decide whether GP practices receive a bonus of up to £8,000 is biased and potentially pejorative, the British Medical Association said this week.
The survey, Your doctor, your experience, your say, will ask patients if they are: satisfied with access to their practices over the phone; able to book appointments within two days; can book ahead; and are able to see their preferred doctor.
The BMA said it reluctantly agreed to questions in these four areas being linked to payments, but it was concerned by two further questions that were added by the Department of Health.
The first is a general question on satisfaction with opening hours, while the second allows patients to register dissatisfaction that their surgery was not open early in the morning, late in the evening or at the weekend.
BMA general practice leader Hamish Meldrum said these questions would raise patients' expectations, even though the times were outside GPs' contractual hours and extended opening hours were unlikely to be funded by the government.
'GPs will continue to consult their patients about their views on the services they provide because we value their opinions and want to try to arrange our surgeries to meet their needs. But using a survey containing leading questions, putting words in patients' mouths, and falsely raising expectations, is not the way to do it,' he added.
The DoH said the questions it had added would help primary care trusts assess whether more flexible opening hours were needed. It has been grappling with patient access to GPs since Prime Minister Tony Blair was ambushed during the last election campaign by a concerned mother unable to book a non-urgent appointment for her son.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said: 'We have invested generously in the new contract for GPs. We need now to make sure practices are responding to patient views on access.'
Five million patients will be chosen at random to take part in the survey. The results will be published by late May and primary care trusts are due to make payments to practices in the first quarter of the 2007/08 financial year.
PFdec2006
