The quality and outcomes framework (QOF) could be further reduced next year, according to the British Medical Association (BMA).
Speaking at the Pulse Live conference in Manchester, BMA GPC chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said he is keen to reduce the burden on GPs.
Shrinking QOF would be a part on that, according to Dr Nagpaul. He said the QOF should “complement good clinical care” and should not “add clinical burden”.
During an interview on his first year as chair he said: “QOF became a monster and we have now actually scaled that back. We would like to do more of that. I think it is right to have clinical standards, but clinical standards that are actually relevant, not just add bureaucracy.”
However, Dr Nagpaul was not convinced that increasing workloads are because of the GP contract.
He said: “ GPs are suffering workload from all quarters, and much of it doesn’t relate to the contract. For example the swathes of work that is moving out of hospitals into GP consulting rooms in an unresourced manner, the increased demands on our time from an ageing population – these sort of things are not related to the contract.”
