A new survey has found that more GPs than not would support a move for their practice funding to be based on the number of consultations they carry our rather than on their number of registered patients.

The survey by Pulse magazine found that 45 per cent of the GPs polled would prefer the NHS to fund practices based on activity rather than on a per capita basis. Of the remainder, 19 per cent said they did not know and 36 per cent said they were against such a move.

The magazine undertook the study to see whether GPs’ ideas chimed with the General Practitioners’ Committee (GPC), which said recently that it was ‘looking into’ including payment by activity in negotiations with NHS England for the 2016/17 GP contract in England.

At their recent conference, 53 per cent of local medical committees (LMCs) voted in favour of a motion that said the current formula of funding is unfit for purpose and should be replaced by a payment by activity contract.

However, the GPC, which has a mandate to negotiate the best deal for GPs, said that it sees problems with the idea, which includes moves towards integrated new models of care, combining secondary and primary care and working to capitated budgets.

GPs seem to lean more towards the LMC viewpoint however, with one saying that if funding continues to be cut, a move towards payment by activity could work so that at least income and therefore resources can reflect the work that needs doing.

Despite this, there are concerns that payment by consultation could have unintended consequences, as patients with long-term conditions could claim that GPs only want to see them for the money.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the GPC said that funding based on the number of consultations could require GPs to collect more data on their consultations and ‘invite micro-management of consultations’.