BMA: Contracts defendable

The British Medical Association (BMA) has dismissed productivity measurements in today's National Audit Office (NAO) report on GPs' contracts as "meaningless".

According to the report the Department of Health has paid £1.76 billion more than it had expected since the contracts were introduced in 2003, but has seen a seven per cent drop in productivity.

The BMA's GPs' committee chairman argues it is impossible to measure changes in productivity because of the nature of the major change to the way GPs work.

"GP productivity should be measured in improvements in health, not the frequency of consultations – and the early evidence is that the contract is leading to improvements in clinical care," Dr Laurence Buckman said.

He said the GP contracts were necessary because of the existence of a pay imbalance meaning the UK's GPs "were among the worst paid in the world" before 2003.

Dr Buckman added: "The NAO recognises that the new national GP contract is delivering benefits – consistency of care has got better, more services are being provided in GP surgeries, patient satisfaction with access has improved and there are fewer problems in recruiting and retaining GPs – all of which is good for patients."