NI GPs Praise 'Top Performance'

Family doctors in Northern Ireland practices have once again demonstrated exceptionally high standards of patient care in the national system that measures the quality of services they provide.



Latest figures for the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) published today (Wednesday, 30 September 2009) show general practice teams in Northern Ireland achieved 97.3% of the maximum points available.



Despite this achievement, however, GPs are angry that many practices have been penalised financially following the results of the recent Patient Experience Survey, and that scores in the non-clinical domain have fallen by over 4% to 94%.



Dr Brian Dunn, chairman of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee in Northern Ireland (NIGPC), said



“Although GPs have achieved over 97%, this is a fall from last year. This reduction is due mainly to the fact that some practices are achieving very high levels of access, yet are being penalised due to a flawed perception-based survey.



“In future, patients need to realise that when they completing questionnaire, if their perceptions of access are not accurate, they are actually depriving their practice of income, potentially making access worse.



Dr Dunn continued,



“The treatment of GP practices is in stark contrast to the secondary care sector where, if waiting lists are long, trusts are given additional funds to improve access.



“In general practice, if practices did not achieve 90% satisfaction in the patient experience survey, the practice lost money. Some practices lost substantial amounts and consequently may have to reduce doctor and clerical staff hours, making access worse.



“NIGPC would urge government to scrap this flawed survey and move towards more meaningful measurement of patient access”.























Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey welcomed the publication today of the latest Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) achievement figures by GP practices in Northern Ireland.



The new figures show sustained high achievement for the provision of quality care to patients and directly reflect his determination to drive forward improvements in patient health care in Northern Ireland.



Under QOF, GP Practices are rewarded for outcomes they achieve with their patients. The practices’ doctors, nurses and staff work as a team to provide high quality care to their patients, for example in the management of chronic disease.



The Minister said: “I welcome that patients in Northern Ireland have again, this year, benefited enormously from their GP practices continuing to deliver high quality care, through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF).



“GP practices and their staff are to be congratulated for their commitment to the provision of high quality care for their patients.



“Practices receive additional income for achieving excellent results in the delivery of quality patient care. Patients have benefited directly from this investment in primary care and they can look forward to continued improvements in their quality of life.”