A DOCTORS' performance check-list that totalled over 900 tick-boxes has been slashed by nearly one-quarter following negotiations with the Scottish Government.
The Quality and Outcomes Framework is an incentive programme that offers GPs financial rewards for high quality of care, monitored by check-lists featuring a selection of points from the framework which vary for each patient and type of condition.
The government has removed 264 points from the existing framework, leaving a total of 659.
The change, which is designed to cut bureaucracy and free up funding for core GP services, follows negotiations between the government and doctors' union the British Medical Association (BMA), which concluded last week.
Dr Alan McDevitt, chairman of the BMA's Scottish general practitioners committee, said: "The agreement will allow a return to consultations where GPs can use their clinical judgement, not a check-list, when treating patients."
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