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Smokers Given More Help to Quit Since Pay for Performance System Introduced in UK |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Smokers have been getting more support for quitting, and the numbers of smokers have reduced, since the introduction of performance-related incentives for UK general practitioners, according to new research published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. "Pay for performance" incentives, introduced in April 2004, mean that general practitioners are paid more if they succeed in meeting performance targets set by the government. The research team from Imperial College London looked at patients with diabetes, registered in Wandsworth, South London. They found that the percentage of smokers with diabetes who were given cessation advice by primary care staff increased from 48% to 84% between 2003 and 2005. Several of these quality indicators encourage GPs to identify people with a chronic disease, such as diabetes or heart disease, who smoke and provide advice and support to help them quit smoking. The researchers' findings suggest that the new incentive scheme is likely to be a key contributor to changes in help offered to smokers. Christopher Millett, one of the authors from the study from the Department of Primary Care and Social Medicine at Imperial College London, said: "Financial incentives introduced in UK primary care appear to have increased cessation advice being given by primary care staff and reduced the percentage of people with diabetes who smoke. "Improvements were generally greatest in the groups with the poorest performance before these incentives were introduced and among ethnic minorities - populations that often receive lower quality care. Deborah Arnott, Director of the health-campaigning charity ASH, commented: "This study backs up what we've always known, that patients listen to advice from their doctors.
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