Chamber and committees

The decision to implement a cap on the General Dental Practice Allowance (GDPA) was taken as part of a wider settlement for independent dentists providing NHS general dental services in Scotland.

The GDPA pays NHS committed dental practices 12 per cent on top of other fees and allowances. A practice can therefore earn £670,000 plus £80,000 in GDPA payments before the cap would come into effect.

In arriving at the view that the cap on GDPA should fall on larger practices, we have recognised the greater likelihood of economies of scale in larger practices.

60 practices in Scotland have been affected by the cap on the General Dental Practice Allowance (GDPA).

The cap was one element in a much wider settlement for 2013-14. In the last financial year, 2013-14, and the current 2014-15 financial year, item of service fees (including capitation) for independent dentists have increased by 2.51 per cent and 1.71 per cent respectively. This constitutes a cumulative increase of 4.26 per cent. The effect of the cap needs to be seen in the context of a significant award for independent dentists.

We are not aware of any negative impact on NHS patients as a direct result of the GDPA cap.

Regulation of the publication of payment records by businesses is reserved to the UK Government. A significant improvement in payment practice is required in the UK and I therefore welcome the provisions in the UK Government's Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill which allows regulations to be made to require businesses to report on payment policies and practices. It is important that the UK Government introduces strong regulations which will make a difference to companies suffering the consequences of late payment of debts and I have written to the UK business minister, Matthew Hancock MP, about this.

This is a matter for individual health boards. The information requested is not held centrally.

Effective collaboration between clinicians, patients and others is a priority for Scottish Government and GP practices should have arrangements in place, where applicable, to ensure that patient participation groups operate in a meaningful way. Practices should be able to demonstrate that patient or lay involvement is welcomed, encouraged and enabled in all aspects of the delivery and planning of services. One way to achieve this is to establish a patient participation group (PPG) and the Scottish Health Council continues to offer support to primary care practitioners to help them develop existing PPGs or set up new groups in areas where they do not yet exist.

There are no current plans to follow NHS England by appointing a GP inspector.

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) rewards contractors for the provision of quality care and helps to standardise improvements on the delivery of primary medical services and the contractor must co-operate fully with any reasonable inspection or review (including the health board’s QOF annual review) that the health board or another relevant statutory authority wishes to undertake in respect of the achievement points to which it says it is entitled.

This is a matter for individual health boards. The information requested is not held centrally.

How a practice responds to the withdrawal of its dispensing income is a decision for the practice partners. Configuring practice services and resources to deliver the general medical services required by its contract, and for which the practice continues to be funded, is for practice partners to manage.

The Scottish Government has not requested this information in view of the small numbers of practices that have chosen not to participate.