Support for practice based commissioning 'static'

The department's fifth quarterly GP practice survey found that levels of support were static, with only 62 per cent of GPs backing the scheme, compared with 64 per cent last quarter. Twenty per cent said they are "neutral".

But more than half of practices have commissioned services "as a direct result of" practice based commissioning and 62 per cent of practices have submitted business cases for service redesign.

Two-thirds of practices have agreed a commissioning plan but only 58 per cent of these were confident this would improve services.

More than a quarter of practices - 27 per cent - still do not have an indicative budget.