Jeremy Hunt has said he wants to see ‘profound reform’ of general practice by next April, and has set out a series of changes he intends to make to the GP contract. Which measures do you support?
Introducing ‘named’ GPs with 24/7 responsibility for vulnerable patients
Oppose – 71%
Support – 10%
Not sure – 19%
Reducing ‘tick-box’ medicine through shrinking the QOF
Oppose – 7%
Support – 73%
Not sure – 20%
Increasing the overall proportion of GP funding going into primary care
Oppose – 3%
Support – 87%
Not sure – 10%
Expanding the GP workforce by recruiting at least 2,000 additional GPs
Oppose – 3%
Support – 86%
Not sure – 11%
Widening online access for patients
Oppose – 26%
Support – 34%
Not sure – 40%
What is your overall impression of the measures taken as a whole
Oppose - 44%
Support - 9%
Not sure - 47%
Source: Pulse survey of 690 GPs
If ministers and the GPC are again unable to reach agreement on the GP contract, and the Department of Health imposes contract changes as they did this year in England, would you support industrial action?
Yes – 62%
No – 22%
Don’t know – 16%
Source: Pulse survey of 734 GPs
About the survey
Pulse launched this survey of readers on 15 October, collating responses using the SurveyMonkey tool. The 26 questions asked covered a wide range of GP topics, to avoid selection bias on any one issue. The survey was advertised to readers via our website and email newsletters, with a prize draw for a Samsung Tab 2 tablet as an incentive to complete the survey.
As part of the survey, respondents were asked to specify their job title. A small number of non-GPs were screened out to analyse the results for this question. GPs were also asked on a voluntary basis to provide their GMC number and 549 of the 647 GP respondents did so, although these were not verified or used to screen out respondents.
