8 June 2006
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has announced today (Thursday 8 June, 2006) that it is suspending talks with the Department of Health over practice accreditation in England, following concerns from its Members that the scheme could be misused as a ‘star ratings’ system and implications for GP workloads.
The RCGP wishes to re-iterate that its practice accreditation systems are voluntary and developmental and that it has never advocated their use for ‘star ratings’. The RCGP is now reviewing the project and undertaking further consultation with the profession, patients and other stakeholders.
Notes to editors:
The RCGP Practice Accreditation schemes Quality Team Development (QTD) and Quality Practice Award (QPA) have been running successfully for several years and over 1,000 practices have taken part voluntarily.