General Medical Services (GMS) and the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF)
Customer Survey for GMS contract and QOF Points Fulfilment
The UK Government have instituted an employment and conditions of service contract between GPs and the government named the General Medical Services (GMS) Contract. This was negotiated by the British Medical Association (BMA) and the NHS Confederation and finalized in June 2003.
The Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) is essentially a bonus scheme for General Practice Surgeries. There are approxinmately 1000 points available each year with each point being worth, for example, £124 for an average surgery of about three Doctors with 5000 patients. The larger the surgery the higher the value of each point.
In conjunction with X-on's PhonePresence Virtual Switchboard Service, Customer Survey can assist Doctor's Practices in earning at least £10,000 toward their yearly bonus by improving both the administering of required GMS surveys and in the collation, preparation and reporting of survey results.
Customer Survey QOF Points
Customer Survey can implement the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire (GPAQ) online, thereby satisfying the GMS requirement, and additionally we can help produce bespoke patient surveys which can generate an extra 30 points valued at £3720 to an average surgery.
Survey collation and reporting is a time consuming and consequently costly procedure involving staff and management. With comprehensive administration and reporting being integral to Customer Survey, fulfilling these requirements is easy and very cost effective, leaving personnel more able to concentrate on implementation of improvements suggested by the surveys.
The GMS contract requires that at least 25 in every 1000 registered patients be surveyed in order to qualify for points. To allow for incompleted surveys a Practice should administer a much higher number - given the simplicity of using Customer Survey this requires no additional activity from the Practice. In fact in order to gain the most reliable picture of patient sentiment as many surveys as possible should be completed.
PhonePresence Switchboard Integration
PhonePresence is a highly sophisticated hosted phone call management system which can either replace or supplement an in-house hardware switchboard. The service is hosted by leading UK telephony providers X-on and with multi-site redundancy provides reliability in addition to a comprehensive feature set. The call recording and message taking facilities provided by PhonePresence allow surgeries to comply with several of the GMS patient communication requirements, particularly records and information indicators.
Patient Surveys
A considerable array of QOF points are available by correct implementation and collation of patient surveys. A Practice must complete a required survey once a year which can be the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire (GPAQ), for which it can be awarded 25 points. An additional 20 points are offered for survey summarization and reportage, along with providing an action plan for improvements to patient procedures suggested by the survey.
With collation and reporting being integral to the Customer Survey service, meeting these requirements is easy. We offer both GPAQ and bespoke surveys and with comprehensive reports available it's easy for Practice Managers to assess areas where procedures can be improved and to include these along with the reports in a GMS submission.
A further 30 points are available by collecting additional information on patient experience, for example 'through surveys of patients with specific illnesses, or consultation with a patient group'. Customer Survey can assist in development and administration of bespoke surveys, incorporating the specific needs and idiosynchracies of a particular Surgery, for instance a Cancer Centre or any other Specialist Clinic.
Customer Survey can therefore cost effectively assist Practices in earning 75 points valued at £9300 for an average practice in meeting the GMS survey requirements.
Relevant clauses from the GMS contract are described here.
Records and Information Indicators
By implemetation of the PhonePresence service in conjunction with Customer Survey an additional 8 QOF points can be achieved, equating to £992 for an average surgery.
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The call management and recording facilities along with comprehensive reporting ensures that messages and requests for visits are recorded and that the relevant staff member is informed and acts accordingly. Out of hours options are also available, satisfying additional requirements of the QOF. The GMS contract makes it clear that good patient/doctor communication is essential, including the ability for patients to speak directly to their GP or nurse via the phone. Integration with PhonePresence ensures this happens with efficiency - caller menus and options provide the patient with a pleasant and constructive phone experience. Voicebank Information Lines are dedicated phone numbers where useful information and notices can be posted by supervisors and subsequently accessed by patients. Stop smoking advice, GP and midwife information, plus general instruction regarding a practice and it's facilities can be accessed via the Voicebank line in compliance with QOF information requirements. Relevant clauses from the GMS contract are described here. |
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