Dr Laurence Buckman, Chairman of the BMA’s (British Medical Association’s) GPs Committee, said regarding the King’s Fund report “Improving the Quality of Care in General Practice”, released today (Thursday 24 March 2011):

“We are pleased the King’s Fund report recognises the importance of generalism and that most practices provide good quality care. Recent research has shown that patient satisfaction with general practice has been increasing.

Like the King’s Fund we believe that “continuity of care” is very important and GPs should strive to offer this to their patients, particularly those with complex and long-term needs. Increasingly practices are working more closely together meaning they will be able to offer the wider range of service that patients expect. However, we should not assume that bigger always means better. Many patients value smaller practices and, as they consistently perform well clinically, it is important that this choice remains.

Quality is at the centre of what general practice offers and, no matter how good the service and care, all practices can improve. We agree that GPs should be able to demonstrate the quality they offer to the public, however, as the report acknowledges, not all aspects of general practice work lend themselves to being measured easily. GPs have always been at the forefront in embracing new technology where it can make a difference to the way they provide care for their patients and, as the demands on the service continue to grow, practices will continue to adapt.

A culture of self-scrutiny has existed for many years but now more than ever, given the increased intensity and complexity of general practice work nowadays, GPs need time off the treadmill so they can look critically at what they do and make improvements. A reduction in bureaucracy would help them to do this, as would stopping the constant reorganisations within the NHS. Where GPs fall short, they need to be helped to see where they can make their service better and given the time, resources and staff support to do this.”

Source: BMA