Responding to the news that the scheme would be dropped, Dr Richard Vautrey, the deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said the NHS had “finally listened to GPs and the BMA, who have raised concerns about the government directly linking payments to specific targets.
“Decisions about an individual’s care should always be based on clinical need, not financial imperatives, and while the diagnosis of dementia is important it should not be done in a way that could seriously undermine the doctor/patient relationship.”
He accused the NHS of wasting money on “short-term, pre-election targets”, when it should be investing properly in GP services.
Martin Brunet, a GP in Guildford, Surrey, who revealed the scheme’s existence in an article he wrote for Pulse, said: “I like to think that they have listened. I think they were probably surprised by how unpopular it has been not just among doctors but also the public. I hope we can make it clear that we should never be paid on the basis of diagnoses.”
