06 May 2005
GPs have been advised to publish data on the quality of the care they provide in an effort to boost public confidence in the medical profession.
British Medical Association guidance published this week warned GPs that withholding performance data could damage doctors' reputations, and practices should be seen as publicly accountable.
Under the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), introduced last year as part of the new GP contract, practices can work towards achieving points for delivering evidence-based quality care. A practice can achieve a maximum of 1,000 points, plus another 50 if they meet access targets.
The BMA is advising members that QOF data is unlikely to be exempt from Freedom of Information Act requirements. The association added that it was working on a publication process with the Department of Health to take the burden off individual practices.
Dr Hamish Meldrum, the BMA's GP chair, said: 'The information on each practice will be put in context so that the figures can be clearly understood and not merely left open to over-simplistic interpretation,' he said.
The BMA believes most practices have scored well in the first year of the scheme's operation.
'There will be a whole variety of reasons why some practices achieve higher QOF scores than others, many of them outside the direct control of the practice,' Meldrum said.
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