Clause 20 - Payments relating to past performance
Health and Social Care Bill
10:00 am
Mr John Denham (Minister of State, Department of Health; Southampton, Itchen, Labour)
I am pleased by the widespread acceptance that the GMS contract based primarily on head counts, has had its day. That is the view outside the Committee and is generally the view of the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge. The way forward is to move towards contracts that recognise the quality of service that GPs provide and reward them appropriately. The measure will not abolish the link between pay and patient numbers: it will merely remove the legal requirement for the majority of GPs' pay to be linked to patient numbers. As has been pointed out, in extreme cases, a direct link between list size and pay can lead to a perverse incentive, particularly for hard-pressed GPs.