The latest ‘clamp-down-on-GPs' directive suffers from a slight flaw, writes PulseToday editor Steve Nowottny
Our lead story this morning - PCTs to launch renewed blitz on 'dysfunctional' GP practices – has a slightly retro feel about it.
In a post-white paper world, it's PCTs which have been very much on the receiving end of scary performance-management directives, and GPs have been in the ascendant. In some parts of the country, of course, they may be a threat to practices – but frankly, balanced scorecards seem just that little bit 2009.
One thing about the set of guidance issued to PCT chiefs by NHS Primary Care Commissioning did cause some amusement when the document first came to our attention though. It's billed as ‘Top ten tips: Managing poor performance in general practices' – but unfortunately, the document only seems to contain nine tips, with tip three nowhere to be seen.
Tip five instructs PCTs to make sure they collect ‘well-documented, qualitative and quantitative information' before putting performance-management processes into effect. Let's hope that includes keeping count…
Steve Nowottny is the editor of PulseToday
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