Information about GP appointments at individual practice level is among new statistics being published today.
Appointments in General Practice contains data about appointments that took place in general practice in England from August to October 2022. The report includes details about the type of healthcare professionals appointments took place with, the appointment mode, and time between booking an appointment and attending.
The experimental data is designed to provide an insight into the activity and usage of GP appointments and how primary care is impacted by seasonal pressures, such as winter. Supporting information and data quality guidance will be provided alongside the statistics.
Statistics are provided at national and Integrated Care Board level, and for the first time, data broken down by individual GP practices is also included.1
Read the full report: Appointments in General Practice
Also published today is the NHS Payments to General Practice, England 2021-22 annual report, which details payments to providers of general practice services by the NHS over the past financial year.
It includes a breakdown of payments made through the Global Sum2, Balance of Primary Medical Services (PMS) expenditure3, Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF)4 and Enhanced Services5, including an estimate of how much the NHS paid per registered patient in England5,6.
Also included in the report are payments to Primary Care Networks (PCN)7 and COVID-19 payments8.
Payments to 6,808 general practice service providers in England are covered by the publication. The data is reported at individual practice, Clinical Commissioning Group, regional and national level.
Read the full report: NHS Payments to General Practice England, 2021/22
Data on Written Complaints in the NHS is also published today and provides a count of written complaints made by or on behalf of patients about NHS services in England.
This annual publication includes data for complaints about NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (secondary care), as well as complaints about General Practices and dental services (primary care) for 2021-22.
Read the full report: Data on Written Complaints in the NHS, 2021-22
The regular monthly General Practice Workforce data is also out today, which provides a snapshot of the primary care general practice workforce.
Read the full report: General Practice Workforce, 31 October 2022.
Notes for editors
-
This publication was launched in the Government's Our Plan for Patients, which sets out priorities for health and care, delivered across 4 key areas including ambulances, backlogs, care, and doctors and dentists.
-
Global Sum is the main payment to practices and is based upon each practice's registered patient list which is adjusted according to the Carr-Hill Formula to take into consideration differences in the age and sex of the patients as well as any in nursing or residential care, additional patient needs due to medical conditions, patient turnover and unavoidable costs based upon rurality and staff market forces for the area.
-
Primary Medical Services contracts are locally negotiated, but Balance of Primary Medical Services (PMS) expenditure payments are similar to Global Sum and Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) in General Medical Services payments.
-
Total QOF Payments is comprised of Quality Aspiration Payments and Quality Achievement Payments. Aspiration Payments are a part payment in advance in respect of achievement under the Quality and Outcomes Framework.
-
Average payment per patient amounts are not representative of the amount of funding available to spend on direct patient care. Average payments per patient at GP practice, CCG, region or national level should be treated with caution as some patients may be double-counted - for example due to practice closure - while conversely no information relating to patient list size is known for 108 practices.
-
Average payment per patient amounts should not be compared with those presented in previous editions of this publication due to a change in methodology in 2019, although revised figures at England level for 2016/17 and 2017/18 have been calculated and are presented in the accompanying web page at https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-payments-to-general-practice/england-2019-20.
-
PCN Participation payments, which relate to all practices taking up membership of a PCN, are included in all tables, averages and totals. Total payments and average payments per patient figures have been calculated both including and excluding payments to six categories which relate only to Primary Care Network (PCN) lead organisations - PCN Leadership, PCN Support, PCN Workforce, PCN Care Home Premium, PCN Extended Hours Access and PCN Impact and Investment Fund. Payments to these categories are provided as a total in Table 2 and have not been included in Table 3 but are presented at PCN and CCG level in Table 4. In this report there are seven separate PCN categories: PCN Participation, PCN Leadership, PCN Support, PCN Workforce, PCN Care Home Premium, PCN Extended Hours Access, PCN Impact and Investment Fund.
-
The pandemic affected the way General Practice operated in 2021/22 and placed additional responsibilities on GP practices for which they received additional payments. The report also includes three additional categories for COVID-19 related payments, COVID-19 Support and Expansion COVID-19 Immunisation and long covid. COVID-19 support, and expansion payments covered the additional costs incurred by General Practice due to COVID-19, for example, additional staff costs to cover sick leave, additional care home visits and personal protective equipment. COVID-19 immunisation payments covered the additional costs incurred to support the co-ordination and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccination programme and the long covid enhanced service provides ongoing assessment, support and management of patients with long term symptoms of COVID-19.