Surgeries to receive NHS commission, UK
As part of proposals for practice-based commissioning, doctors must re-invest any savings into developing or providing services for patients such as more specialist care or new equipment and staff. Options for re-investment include more specialist care, diagnostics, equipment, facilities and staff.
Draft guidance, published in October, proposed that GP practices would be able to keep 50 per cent of any savings made through commissioning, but final guidance, published today, will allow family doctors to receive a greater proportion of savings, which would be agreed locally between the practice and primary care trusts (PCTs).
Health minister John Hutton said the move to encourage GPs to directly commission care could reduce prescribing costs, slash unnecessary hospital admissions and create savings for investment in local practices.
Under the Practice Based Commissioning scheme, GP practices will be given incentives to conduct x-rays, tests and outpatient consultations within their practice or to commission these services from another provider.
"There are real signs that practices are exploring the potential of this scheme and several are already involved in practice based commissioning in some way," Mr Hutton explained.
"By allowing practices to retain up to 100 per cent of any savings, we aim to encourage even more practices to adopt the scheme, which will free up resources and provide a greater variety of services for patients."
http://www.hda-online.org.uk/html/about/phnews.asp?ItemID=7334292
Intervenþiile chirurgicale pentru a primi NHS Comisiei, Regatul Unit - Surgeries to receive NHS commission, UK - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate