The value of the Quality and Outcomes Framework should be reduced from 30% of GP income to just 7%, according to a think-tank that also wants the number of indicators cut dramatically.
A report from Civitas, Checking-Up on Doctors, claims the relationship between GPs and patients is being undermined by the QoF, and that it can distract doctors from providing high quality, personalised care.
James Gubb, co-author of the report and director of the Civitas Health Unit, said linking up to a third of GP income to performance had placed GPs in a “game” to get maximum points and income. Civitas wants the number of indicators to be reduced so they focus solely on clinical work.
Gubb added: “Do we really want GPs to be a set of what the cultural critic Raymond Tallis has termed ‘sessional functionaries robotically following guidelines’, or do we want professionals able to work for their patients?”
The report has been criticised by the BMA as “short on evidence and long on opinion.” Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s General Practitioner Committee, said that unlike many government targets the scheme had been developed in close partnership with the profession, experts and patient groups and had been shown to be reducing health inequalities.
He added: “Through the QoF, a process is now in place which means that patients in the very early stages of the diseases which kill the majority of people in this country are actively sought out and their conditions are managed systematically.
“Over the long-term, the QoF will save many lives and it means patients can be confident that they will get the same consistent, evidence-based care wherever they live in the UK.”
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