Friday, January 19, 2007

GP pay 'should have been capped'

By Nick Triggle

Health reporter, BBC News


The government should have capped the money GPs can make out of their new contract, the health secretary says.

The proportion of profits GPs take out of their practices has increased since the new contract started in 2004, pushing average pay above £100,000.
In an interview with BBC News, Patricia Hewitt said that in hindsight ministers would have wanted to ensure doctors did not take so much in profit.

Doctors criticised Ms Hewitt, saying she was "denigrating" GPs.
Ms Hewitt said: "I think if we anticipated this business of GPs taking a higher share of income in profits we would have wanted to do something to try to ensure that the ratio of profits to the total income stayed the same and therefore more money was invested in even better services for patients."
Statistics from the NHS Information Centre show that GPs took 40% of their gross earnings in profit once expenses were taken away in 2003-4, but this rose to 45% the following year when the contract started.

This contributed to the hike in pay GPs received, with average pay totalling £106,000 - up 30% on the year before.

Family doctors which work in practices with a pharmacy earn even more with reports of some earning over £200,000.

Accountants predict the amount earned in profit in 2005-6 was between £110,000 and £120,000.

Extra services



The new contract was designed to give general practices additional funds to invest in improving and developing services to patients.

It included incentives to reward GPs and their practice teams for driving up the quality of patient care.


A large proportion of GPs' earnings are now linked to the quality of care they provide, with payments made for the provision of extra services, such as contraception, child health and chronic disease clinics.

It also enabled GPs to opt out of night and weekend care

'Taken to the cleaners'

However, Joyce Robins, from the health watchdog Patient Concern, told BBC News that the new contract did not represent "value for money".

"I do think that the doctors' unions took the government to the cleaners with that contract because, I mean, nobody's mentioned that in fact they do a great deal less work," she said.

"They no longer do evenings, no night work, weekend work - this has all got to be paid for somewhere else. -  YES HOSPITAL'S AND THEIR A&E DEPARTMENTS

"And yet their money has gone up quite enormously.

"In fact, I understand that far more GPs are actually retiring early because their pensions have gone up so much that they can afford to do that."

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "The government underestimated the number of points GPs would get for treating patients which in a way is really sad because it means the government underestimated the good job that GPs do.

"For Patricia Hewitt to distance herself from the GP contract is a show of how low her own performance has sunk."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "The government has clearly made a hash of negotiating the GP pay contracts.

"It is not helpful for them to admit incompetence after the event when the problems in the NHS are already mounting. We need an urgent review into the government's approach to such pay agreements in the NHS."

THE MAIN ISSUE HERE IS THAT THE G.P CONTRACT WAS DESIGNED TO ALLOW G.P'S
TO HAVE MORE CONTROL OVER THEIR BUDGETS AND TO EMBRACE THE PROPOSED
CARE CLOSER TO HOME (DOING HOSPITAL WORK IN THE COMMUNITY ON THE CHEAP AND WITH RISKS) HOWEVER THESE UNDERESTIMATED PROFESSIONALS MADE THEIR SALARIES UP AFTER YEARS OF LOW WAGE INCREASES.
BASICALLY HERE THE COMMUNITY CARE ROUTE THE GOVERNMENT INSIST IS THE RIGHT WAY TO GO IS FLAWED, UNSAFE AND WILL BE UNDERFUNDED BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THAT G.P'S WOULD "DO THE RIGHT THING"
THIS GOES TO SHOW HOW OUT OF TOUCH THE GOVERNMENT ARE WITH THE PEOPLE, THE TORIES ARE JUST THE SAME THOUGH SO IT WOULD BE THE SAME OR WORSE IF THEY WERE AT THE REINS - 
THE REAL DEAL HERE IS THAT THE HOSPITAL NETWORK WAS TO BE RUN DOWN TO SAVE CASH -  NOTHING  MORE, NOTHING LESS -  BUT THIS WILL NOW HAVE TO HAVE A SERIOUS RETHINK AND RE INVESTMENT