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GPs invited to give views ahead of new ‘GP scorecard’

GPs are being asked to give their views on new quality indicators being planned by the Department of Health, which would be used to create a ‘scorecard’ for each practice.

The survey has been launched by the Health Foundation, which was tasked with developing suitable comparison metrics to publish on the MyNHS website as part of the health secretary’s ‘new deal’ for general practice.

The scorecard plan has been met with scepticism from GPs fearing it would add to their administrative burden. The RCGP has warned that it will not cooperate with the Health Foundation’s review unless the DH drops the scorecard plan.

The Health Foundation said it hoped not only GPs, but also practice nurses, practice managers, pharmacists and other staff, would fill out the online consultation form to contribute their ideas before 24 August.

Commenting on the review, which is due to be completed at the end of September, Health Foundation chief executive Dr Jennifer Dixon said it was ‘really important to get this right’ and to ‘hear the voices of those directly involved in providing care as well as their representative organisations’.

The Health Foundation has said it wants to determine which quality indicators could be relevant without adding to the ‘current burden of administration’. It said this could include existing indicators such as the QOF and seeing which parts of the CQC’s intelligent monitoring process could be useful following improvements.

The DH had previously used the CQC’s intelligent monitoring data on its Tripadvisor-style comparison website MyNHS but removed the information after it was proved to be widely inaccurate and the CQC said it was never intended to be used for comparison purposes.