The curious case of the 15-minute consult: Is the funding tail wagging the dog?

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The curious case of the 15-minute consult: Is the funding tail wagging the dog?

Lucy O'Hagan

Thursday 10 October 2019, 10:29 AM

In the current funding model, GPs’ financial viability relies on pushing numbers

JUST WONDERING

Lucy O’Hagan finds complexity is the order of the day in ‘routine’ consultations and suggests new approaches that could lighten the load

Why don’t we start with the task we are trying to do and fit the funding to the task? Everywhere I go, GPs are saying, "I just can’t keep to time

Comments

Geoffrey Vause

Wednesday 16/10/2019

It would be nice if the HCH and portal could move the drivers of consultation times but alas they don;t...there are a lot of other variables affecting practice income that just patients per hour. The trouble is the sheer complexity of funding streams means that it is next to impossible to figure out what is the most efficient consultation duration.