§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list(a) present and (b) proposed incentive schemes in primary care together with their purposes. [156732]
§ Mr. DenhamThere are a number of incentive schemes currently in place to encourage best practice in primary care including the prescribing incentives scheme and the sustained quality allowance scheme (details in Health Service Circular 1998/228 and HSC1999/107 respectively). Copies are available in the Library.
On 19 March my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced an additional £100 million of investment available to primary care groups and primary care trusts to draw up incentive schemes in association with their constituent practices. These schemes should focus upon delivering local services.
This new investment is intended to stimulate innovation. £50 million will be available recurrently to enable practices to invest up front in service improvement. The second tranche of the moneys (£50 million) will be available non recurrently to reward achievement of the targets agreed locally by practices with their PCG or PCT. It will be for the practice to determine how to use these moneys which may be personal reward to individuals or additional investment to further support service development and staff training. This investment equates to a figure of approximately £2 per head of population with an average practice receiving £10,000 additional investments.