I haven't been paying attention to medical politics lately, since it's
all so depressing. I am a lot more optimistically deluded as a result,
and I rather like this.
However, the latest figures from my PCT show that our practice will
only receive a 0.7% increase in Global Sum/Correction Factor for
09/10. This didn't seem right, so I tore the plastic wrapper off last
week's GP and found that about 70% of practices are in a similar
position.
It seems as though what will happen is that practices who no longer
need the "MPIG" Correction Factor are getting a 12.5% rise, while
those who still need the CF will have the CF reduced so that their
GS+CF only rises by 0.7%. As far as I can tell, the intention is for
this to continue year on year until no practices receive the CF.
If that is the case, we will end up with a random and inequitable
distribution of funding between practices, which is precisely what the
MPIG was introduced to avoid. In our practice, the CF will still
account for 11% of GS+CF in 09/10. By the time we lose our dependence
on the CF, some other practices will have seen an increase of 25% in
their resources.
Personally I'm not too bothered, because
(a) it's bad for my health
(b) I'm going to take early retirement pretty soon (honest I am!)
(c) there's no point in earning a lot of money because it will be taxed heavily
But I am concerned about the future of the young doctors in our
practice, and about how we are going to recruit new partners in
future.
Is this an unmitigated disaster or simply a disaster, in which case
what are the mitigating factors?
Mike
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Michael Leuty
Nottingham, UK
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