PBC satisfaction improves

GP practices are becoming slightly more satisfied with the quality of information they receive for practice-based commissioning – although more than one in three still rate it as poor or very poor.

The latest Department of Health survey on PBC shows that 36% of practices rate the quality of information they receive as fairly or very poor, compared to 43% when the survey was first conducted in summer 2007.

The slightly better news for primary care trusts is that the latest survey does show a marked improvement in GP satisfaction with managerial support. For the first time there was a positive net rating (+8% net good), up from -5% net good when the last survey was conducted.

The survey of almost 2,000 practices conducted between September and November found that 62% of practices support PBC, over half have commissioned new services as a direct result of PBC, and 91% are part of a PBC group.

The results were welcomed by the NHS Alliance, an organisation representing PCTs and GP practices, which said they demonstrated support for the policy and that it was having an impact on service delivery.

Dr David Jenner, the Alliance’s Practice Based Federation lead, said it showed that the NHS was heading in the right direction.

He added: “PBC is the way forward and we need to keep that momentum going by encouraging more GPs to fully engage with PBC, which will bring real benefits to their patients.

"Also, even if there has been a bit of scepticism regarding PBC in the past, the conditions for it to succeed are now in place, especially with world-class commissioning.”