GPs to be paid £55 for diagnosing Dementia

Freakbro

Freakbro

Freakbro

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As per the title, a report is out today about a six month scheme by the NHS to pay GPs an extra £55 for each Dementia diagnosis.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29718618

I am finding this rather bizarre, for as far as I understand it, GPs are paid not an inconsiderable amount to do their job, which consists of diagnosing sick people...

So what extra are they going to do, over what they should be doing anyway, to make this extra diagnosis?

And what incentive is £55 to a GP anyway (que the youtube video on decreasing incentives of money over a certain income threshold anyway) or is it going to cause a conflict of interest where the outcome of the diagnosis could be influenced by the extra payment?
 
You forgot to take your pills?

That's £55 for me then.

You forgot to feed the cat?

That's £55 for me then.

Stupid incentive is stupid. Just so they can jack the number of Dementia?
 
Terrible.
For doing your job right you are getting a bonus

Bad enough you often see them on Google diagnosing what you have presented them
 
Freakbro said:
And what incentive is £55 to a GP anyway
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It goes to the practice, not the GP. Still a dumb idea.

Gammawolf said:
GP's are already overpaid.
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Are they? Is that why GP numbers are falling? I'm telling you had I a medical school degree I'd not be going into general practice but rather a more lucrative area where I didn't have to deal with Mrs. Jones demanding antibiotics for her snotty child.
 
Wouldn't this just lead to a higher risk of false diagnosis? I mean GP's would be very tempted to say "Oh, that's the onset of Dementia" just for a £55 bonus in their monthly earnings..
 
Surely it's their job to diagnose these conditions and if they're not, maybe their position should be reconsidered!

Giving them an incentive will only make their job harder with expectation and workload.

Stupid idea!
 
It's hard to diagnose dementia because whenever anyone phones a surgery to book an appointment with a GP they are told by the receptionists it's too late and to try again tomorrow, they always forget to phone the next day.
 
omnomnom said:
They really aren't. I assume you know actual figures rather then guess work ?
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Salaried GPs employed directly by a primary care trust (PCT) earn between £54,319 and £81,969.
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http://www.prospects.ac.uk/general_practice_doctor_salary.htm

Sound about right?

That doesn't include self employed GPs with NHS contracts

The number of family doctors earning more than £100,000 a year has quadrupled in less than a decade, according to evidence submitted to the annual NHS pay review.

Official documents show that more than 16,000 GPs are being paid six-figure sums, including more than 600 on more than £200,000
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/n...rning-100000-has-quadrupled-report-shows.html
 
I can see what they are wanting to do, and that is raise awareness of dementia symptoms to GPs. But this is a very poor way of doing it.

I think GPs need to be knocked down a step. They should be providing healthcare and not lumbered with running a GP surgery. If we move the management of the GP surgery to the local general hospital, then the hospital can be in charge of managing the needs of the local community and providing services when they are required, running pop up clinics in the surgery too. GPs can then be employees of the hospital and can be moved onto shift work based on the demands, with a surgery offered in the local hospital out of hours too. This will then take the load off A&E who can just treat proper emergency cases and not those with a bit of a ear ache.
 
Trifid said:
I can see what they are wanting to do, and that is raise awareness of dementia symptoms to GPs. But this is a very poor way of doing it.
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Agreed, maybe a refresher or online course of education would be better.

I mean, how are their actual detection methods going to improve by just offering a financial incentive /cynical

I think GPs need to be knocked down a step. They should be providing healthcare and not lumbered with running a GP surgery. If we move the management of the GP surgery to the local general hospital, then the hospital can be in charge of managing the needs of the local community and providing services when they are required, running pop up clinics in the surgery too. GPs can then be employees of the hospital and can be moved onto shift work based on the demands, with a surgery offered in the local hospital out of hours too. This will then take the load off A&E who can just treat proper emergency cases and not those with a bit of a ear ache.
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This sounds sensible. My g/f is a specialist cardiac nurse currently working in A&E and she has a very low opinion of GPs lately with their appaling diagnosis in general and how they just send so many innappropriate referrals to A&E
 
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