“GPs are not to blame if the Department of Health didn’t do its sums properly, and any future changes to the GP contract must be fully funded and piloted properly”.  

Mr Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, was speaking as the National Audit Office published its report on the GP contract.  The new contract for general practice has cost the Department of Health £1.76 billion more than it originally budgeted for.  The largest overspend of the contract was due to an underestimation of the amount that GPs would earn from the pay for performance scheme, the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF). 

However, practices scored much more highly on the framework than the Department had predicted i.e. 91 per cent against estimates of 75 per cent.  The British Medical Association (BMA) told the National Audit Office that it had warned the Department of Health that their estimates were too low, but there is evidence that the Department chose to ignore them.  Additionally, the QOF was not piloted before it was introduced, so the Department had limited information on which to base its estimates. 

27 February 2008
 

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