April 2005 saw a fundamental and radical change in the way that secondary care services are funded within the NHS with the introduction of “Payment by Results" (PbR). The Department of Health stated that the aim of Payment by Results (PbR) was to provide a transparent, rules-based system for paying trusts. It will reward efficiency, support patient choice and diversity and encourage activity for sustainable waiting time reductions. Payment is linked to activity and adjusted for casemix to ensure a fair and consistent basis for hospital funding rather than being reliant principally on historic budgets and the negotiating skills of individual managers. If you wish to find out more about 'Payment by Results' click here for the relevant section of the Department of Health website. At the same time the government introduced “Practice Based Commissioning”, a system enabling GPs and other front line clinicians to redesign services to improve patient care. For more information, click here.
Additional information can also be found on the Primary Care Contracting website, please click here.
