News / Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group
Bristol GPs paid ?200 to diagnose dementia
Doctors in Bristol are being paid £200 to diagnose new dementia patients, Bristol24/7 can reveal today.
The “innovative” scheme offered to GPs by the Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group also offers an upfront payment of £500 for signing up to the dementia diagnosis scheme, plus £200 per newly diagnosed patient, with a £200 bonus if diagnosis rates rise by five per cent.
Dr Nick Cartmell, Associate Clinical Director, Strategic Clinical Network (Dementia) South West, said the scheme was essential and is not about incentivising GPs.
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“Bristol has, after a careful two-year period of planning and listening, developed an innovative approach which is already being adopted by other NHS areas in England facing the same challenges which I thoroughly support,” he said.
The news comes after it emerged yesterday that family doctors across England are to receive £55 every time they diagnose a case of dementia. NHS England said the aim was to increase the number of sufferers who receive treatment for the condition, which causes a decline in brain function.
But the Patients Association called it “a step too far” that would mean a “bounty on the head” of some patients.
However, Dr Cartmell said the scheme in Bristol is “completely appropriate” if the NHS is encouraging diagnosis at a primary care level and the additional payments to family doctors will enable family doctors to “develop their staff and infrastructure, and develop the skills necessary.”
He added that the scheme was about making the right choice when it comes to spending squeezed budgets.
“With a growing and ageing population with increasingly complex health needs and rising dementia incidence, commissioners are making very sensible decisions about how to spend limited resources to maximise the impact on their populations,” he said.
“Dementia is a problem which affects us all and especially affects people with it, their carers and their communities around them.”
Picture: Ocskay Mark / Shutterstock
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