Support for practice-based commissioning (PBC), the government’s policy of involving GP practices in commissioning local services, is at 64%, according to the Department of Health’s latest PBC survey covering a sample of practices from each PCT.
A further 20% were neutral about the policy, with just 5% of practices saying they were strongly opposed to PBC.
Seven in 10 practices (69%) had been given an indicative budget and just under two-thirds of practices (64%) had agreed a commissioning plan.
The results suggest a continuing upward trend in the proportion of practices commissioning new services through PBC, as this figure has risen to 61% from 56% in the previous survey.
Furthermore, the number of practices submitting service design business cases to PCTs has risen to 63%, and more than half of practices (51%) are providing additional services – up from 47% in the last survey.
