UK may link pay to performance

Britain's opposition Conservative party wants to link GP pay to the success of treatments and patient satisfaction. The radical proposal was set out by Conservative party leader David Cameron in a new health service policy document.

Other proposals include abolishing government targets for reducing waiting times, passing more control over budgets to GPs, giving patients with long-term conditions their own budgets for treatment, and allowing NHS and private hospitals to compete more actively on price.

Cameron has declared that he is committed to keeping the National Health Service (NHS) universal, mostly free and paid for by taxes. The Conservative party accuses the ruling Labour party of making the NHS bloated and inefficient through constant reorganisations.

It also says that the imposition of too many performance targets has added bureaucracy and paperwork. "This interference frustrates the ability of frontline clinicians to do the job they do best: caring for patients," the new policy document states. The Conservatives plan to loosen government control over the NHS and bring in an independent board to manage the service.

The document reads: "The NHS board will take over responsibility for resource allocation in the NHS from ministers, in recognition of the fact that it is a specialist task which should be free from political interference.

"It will allocate resources to each area of the country in a manner which will secure equal access to healthcare for all."

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