Practice based commissioning shares fundholding's flaws

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7579.0-c

BMJ 2006;333 (2 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7579.0-c

This week in the BMJ

Practice based commissioning shares fundholding's flaws

Labour's policy of practice based commissioningseems to have similar problems to the GP fundholding schemethat was abolished in the 1990s, according to Greener and Mannionin their analysis and comment article (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39022.486921.94).Under both schemes, purchasing secondary care out of a primarycare budget increased GPs' awareness of resource economics.But patients' satisfaction seems to have been reduced in linewith increased managerial responsibilities of GPs. The authorssuggest that the high administrative costs of practice basedcommissioning would make collaboration between practices a costeffective solution.