GPs question worth of commissioning policy

24 Jan 08
A Department of Health survey has revealed widespread doubts among GPs that the government's flagship practice-based commissioning policy is making any difference to the way they work.

25 January 2008

A Department of Health survey has revealed widespread doubts among GPs that the government's flagship practice-based commissioning policy is making any difference to the way they work.

Under the policy, GP practices are given a budget to commission the services they want. The scheme aims to enable doctors to shape local NHS provision.

The second quarterly survey of GP practices, carried out in September, found that two-thirds of GP practices had received an indicative budget for 2007/08 — up ten percentage points from the previous survey.

But more than three-quarters of those surveyed said practice-based commissioning had yet to make a difference to the way they operated.

The findings echo those of an Audit Commission report in November, which warned that the scheme was struggling to take off.

The NHS Alliance warned that primary care trusts' provision of support and information remained 'variable'. It criticised the DoH for holding up the release of the survey results to GPs until strategic health authorities had produced responses to the findings.

'They delayed publication to give the SHAs time to put the survey results into the context of local conditions,' a spokeswoman said.

She added: 'Local GP practices are supposed to be equal partners with PCTs and they know more about local circumstances than anyone else.'

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