10.01.14
Welsh GP contract requirements simplified
The Welsh GP contract will be revised to cut the “treadmill of bureaucracy”, and free up doctors’ time to spend with patients.
The changes were agreed with health minister Mark Drakeford and the General Practitioners Committee (Wales).
The number of points in the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) will be reduced and from 2015/16 Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) funding will be redistributed on a formula weighed needs basis, over a period of seven years.
GP practices will be encouraged to work in small groups or clusters to strengthen the delivery of local healthcare and practices will be required to participate in three national care pathways to address A&E and unscheduled admissions.
These pathways are: the early detection of cancer, end of life care, and the frail elderly.
Drakeford said: “I am very happy to have reached agreement on changes to the contract for GPs in Wales which will benefit doctors and patients alike.
“The changes we have agreed will remove the treadmill of bureaucracy facing GPs, allowing them to spend more time with their most vulnerable patients, particularly the frail elderly.
“By removing some of the current requirements on GPs, we are both freeing up valuable time and putting more trust in the professional judgement of doctors, allowing them to treat their patients as individuals rather than to satisfy a set of criteria.
“We are also, by changing the funding formula for practices, addressing the inequalities in health which exist between the most and least affluent areas of Wales.
“It makes perfect sense for GP practices to work with each other to provide a wider range of care within geographical areas, which we will see happen more as a result of changes to the contract.
“It is vital that Local Health Boards continue to work closely and proactively with GP practices to support them in the delivery of the improvements in patient care through these changes to the contract.
“I would like to thank the General Practitioners Committee for their help in creating a solid basis for GP services in Wales for future years.”
Dr Charlotte Jones, Chair of GPC Wales, said: “GPC Wales has welcomed the collaborative approach by the Welsh Government which has enabled the important issues affecting General Practitioners in Wales to start to be addressed.
“We believe that these changes will enable practices to have the ability and capacity to better manage demand and the needs of their patients, as well as reducing bureaucracy. We believe these changes will make a significant difference to the challenges that GP practice teams face day to day.
“We understand that practices will be anxious about the MPIG proposals but can assure them that the proposals for Wales have been modelled down to individual practice level as we believe this to be the safest and most pragmatic way forward which should not destabilise practices and I assure you will protect the outlying practices in perpetuity. We urge practices to read the detail of the proposals, await their individual letters and read our further information on this which will be sent via email to all practices within 24 hours.
“GPC Wales recognises the potential value of networks to meet the Welsh Government's strategic priorities but these can only be effective if LHBs work closely and proactively with practices and support them in ensuring they are successful in delivering improved patient care. The Minister's guidance to LHBs to this effect is welcomed. The proposal for a 3 year framework for the locality development service scheme will start this process in a consistent manner across Wales in 2014/15.”
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