The NHS Bolton CCG board has revealed that GP practices are to benefit from £95 per patient as part of the ‘Bolton Quality Contract’. The CCG expect practices to meet a number of quality standards in return for the investment. This will occur from April, with the CCG set to invest approximately £3.4 million in GP practices in the area.

How Does The Agreement Work? Practices will be paid 60 per cent of the extra funding, which equates to £57 per patient, if they meet four of the mandatory standards that have been put in place. In order to benefit from the extra 40 per cent / £38 per patient the GP practice will need to provide extra services and meet additional standards that have been outlined by the CCG.

How to get the initial investment of £57 per patient

• GP practices must be committed to cooperating with the CCG’s co-commissioning agenda
• GP practices need to proactively work to anticipate emergency admissions and prevent them
• Where clinically appropriate practices must agree to transfer work into general practice
• Practices must carry out blood testing on site

The extra £38 per patient

• GP practices must have positive patient ratings in the Patient Survey
• They must reduce wasteful prescribing
• They need to provide physical health checks for individuals with learning disabilities
• They must review referral DNAs / urgent care cancer presentations

The aim of the Bolton Quality Contract

The goal is to ensure that during core hours general practice capacity increases. The CCG is hopeful that its investment will result in reduced pressure on the emergency services and shorter waiting times. The stretched capacity of general practices at present is no secret and Dr Stephen Liversedge, the Clinical Director for Primary Care and Health Improvement at Bolton CCG, states that this is a “local response to a national problem”.

Will Other Areas Follow Suit?

The Bolton Quality Contract represents one of the first plans to be finalised for primary care to be commission by CCGs. Nevertheless, almost four in ten CCGs have made an application for the entire delegated commissioning responsibility for general practices, as opposed to co-commissioning. It remains to be seen how other areas that have applied to commission GP services will go about their plans.