One third of PCT-practice agreements signed

Just over a third of primary care trust-practice agreements for the GP Systems of Choice framework had been signed by the end of the year, according to NHS Connecting for Health.

Latest figures published by the agency show that 2,514 agreements had been signed by 19 December out of a possible 7,519.

CfH had originally hoped that all agreements would be signed by the end of April 2008, but deadlines have slipped and the latest statistics show that progress towards achieving 100% sign up to the agreements is variable.

London is the worst performing strategic health authority, with only 94 agreements signed and 1,449 eligible GPSoC practices. Of 31 PCTs in London, 27 have yet to sign a single agreement - although London has set itself a target of signing up all practices by the end of February.

No SHA has signed up 100% of practices as yet, although two SHAs - East of England and South Central - aimed to do so by the end of October 2008 and three SHAs - Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands and the North East - set a target of signing up all practices by the end of 2008. A total of 14 PCTs have successfully signed up all practices.

GPs in some parts of England have claimed they are facing unworkable restrictions on the kind of third party IT they can use in their practices under the GPsoC PCT-practice agreements and GPs have been advised to negotiate over their terms.

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