IT'S official: National Health Service GPs in Dorset and the New Forest are delivering some of the highest quality care and treatment in the country to their patients.

Figures just released show that family doctors in the area assessed under a new payment system are performing well above the national average.

The data mean that patients in England can now check how their GP surgery scores on items such as appointment times and managing chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Under the voluntary quality and outcomes framework (QOF) system, introduced last year, practices score points for achievement against a range of indicators, such as the number of patients with heart disease who also receive a 'flu jab.

Points up for grabs include a possible 550 points for good clinical care; 184 for well-organised surgeries; 100 for patient experience and 36 for providing extra services such as some jabs.

GP payments are then calculated on how many points they score out of a possible 1,050, with each point earning the surgery £77.50. The final payment is adjusted to take account of their overall workload and the relative health of patients in the area.

On average, the 8,486 English GP practices taking part - representing 99.5 per cent of registered patients -scored 959 points, or 91 per cent. But those in Bournemouth and South and East Dorset Primary Care Trusts' areas scored an average of 97.3 per cent; Poole 97.2 per cent; North Dorset 98.3 per cent; and New Forest 98.5 per cent - the second highest figure in the country.

Claire Warner, spokeswoman for the primary care trusts in Dorset, said: "It's a pleasing set of results. They demonstrate the high quality of GPs we have across Dorset. The framework enables us to strive to improve in any area we can."

But Dr Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS confederation, warned that because GPs had exceeded expectations in the first year, PCTs could be paying out more money than they budgeted for in the short term.

Some GPs have also expressed concern that the figures could be turned into an unfair league table, and that striving for extra points could skew clinical priorities.

First published: September 1