It has been confirmed by NHS England that the value of a Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) point will not be increased this year, meaning that GP practices will lose thousands of pounds for the work they are currently undertaking.

GPs had been hoping for an upgrade in the value of a QOF point in line with increases to the average practice list size, as otherwise, £2,000 would be wiped off the value of QOF for a an average practice and maybe even more, if they upped their levels of performance.

The General Practitioners’ Committee (GPC) said it has been urging NHS England to raise the QOF point value, as otherwise, it would negate the gains to practices from the 0.28 per cent uplift to the global sum.

However, a spokesman for NHS England told Pulse Magazine earlier this month that the Department of Health (DH) has confirmed that it did not address the QOF points issue in its negotiations for the 2014/15 contract, meaning that the value of a point will definitely not be increased this year.

A spokesman for the GPC said that other ways would now have to be found to reconcile the loss to GPs and also to ensure that the issue does not become one that recurs every year.

Meanwhile, in separate news, a survey has revealed that one in seven GPs will refuse to take on unplanned admissions under the new directed enhanced services (DES) scheme, even though this could represent a pay cut of around £20,400 for the average practice.

This is mainly because many GPs felt that the bureaucracy of the DES and the ‘named GP’ responsibility meant that the reduction of QOF had been replaced by another set of paperwork they would have to produce to be paid.