Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Chan (Crossbench). It was answered on Tuesday, 13 December 2005.

National Health Service: Payment by Results

Question: My Lords, is the Minister aware that primary care trusts are now worried about payment by results because the projected increase in payments to hospitals, which comes from primary care trusts, will further increase if hospitals increase their activity? What advice would he give to primary care trust boards for them to balance their budgets? Should we restrict the type and amount of activity of hospitals?

Answer: My Lords, payment by results is being introduced over a four-year transition period, during which the year-on-year income changes for baseline activity will be capped at 2 per cent for individual providers, so there will be a limit on how much income people can use. The noble Lord asked what PCTs should be doing. They should pursue stronger commissioning in how they take forward their agenda and incentivise practice-based commissioning so that GPs are more in the driving seat.

Secondary information