GPs offered financial incentive to reduce patient referrals

An investigation by the doctors’ magazine Pulse has found that some GPs in England are being offered payments, in some cases thousands of pounds, to reduce the number of patients they refer to hospital. Affected referrals include scans and specialist consultations, including those for suspected cancer patients.

The investigation found that at least nine CCGs (clinical commissioning groups) were offering payments for reducing referrals, and in one case a CCG was offering practices over £11,000 to hit targets in reducing follow-ups, A&E attendances and new outpatient attendances by 1% compared with last year.

Dr Chand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association GP’s committee has said that these schemes were a “financial contaminant” to the patient-doctor trust commitment.

He said “It’s short-sighted and misguided of CCGs to introduce such mechanisms, because they do lead to the potential for patients questioning the motives of GP referrals.

“We believe it is far more appropriate for CCGs to introduce clinical pathways that ensure patients are referred appropriately rather than these crude, salesman-like bonuses which pay GPs simply to make reduction to referrals in numerical terms.”

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has said that thousands of lives could be lost each year because of delays in spotting symptoms.

Rosie Loftus of Macmillan Cancer Support has said “This is yet another sign of an NHS which is seriously overstretched and not giving GPs the resources and support they need”, describing Pulse’s findings as “very worrying”.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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