DOCTORS have condemned a ‘bounty’ scheme launched by NHS England at the beginning of this month under which GPs receive a payment of £55 for every patient they diagnose as suffering from dementia.
GPs yesterday described the scheme as ‘a completely new and unethical departure’ which has crossed ‘a red line’.
Former president of the Royal College of Practitioners, Dr Fiona Heath, described the scheme as ‘an intellectual and ethical travesty’.
Dr Martin Brunet, a GP from Guildford, Surrey, said: ‘NHS England have either not considered the ethics of this new policy, or are so blinded by their goal that they don’t deem ethics to be important – either a lack of moral insight or a failure of moral leadership.’
The scheme’s ‘bullying of the doctor-patient relationship’ shows that NHS leaders ‘really have gone too far,’ said Dr Brunet. ‘NHS England has crossed a line that has not been crossed before.’
He insisted: ‘There must be absolute trust that the doctor is acting only and solely in the best interests of the patient. To contaminate this process with a financial payment seriously undermines the doctor-patient relationship.’
He called for family doctors to boycott ‘this odious scheme’.
The Patients Association called it ‘a distortion of good medical practice’ and ‘a step too far’ that puts a ‘bounty on the head’ of patients.
Meanwhile, a group of leading doctors and researchers yesterday called for MPs to investigate potential conflicts of interest at the watchdog NICE over the controversial policy of GPs being given financial incentives to prescribe statins.
In a letter to the Health Select Committee, they expressed concern about financial ties to drug companies among ‘experts’ working for NICE.
The concerns follow controversy over the recent NICE guideline on statin drugs.
The letter reflects continuing disquiet among doctors and researchers over the recent decision by NICE to extend the availability of cholesterol-lowering drugs to millions of people at low risk of developing heart disease.
A majority on the NICE panel that recommended this had ties to pharmaceutical companies.
The letter says the governance arrangements for conflicts of interest at NICE are ‘not fit for purpose’.
In June, a letter supported by many of the same signatories, argued that plans to extend the use of statins should be scrapped, saying NICE had used data which ‘grossly underestimated’ the side-effects.