Watchdog has PbR's care impact in its sights

The Healthcare Commission has said it is interested in assessing the impact of payment by results on patient care.

Speaking at the launch of the commission's State of Healthcare 2006report on Monday, commission chair Professor Sir Ian Kennedy was asked about concerns that PbR could reduce the quality of care at hospitals which fail to attract patients. 'PbR is something that we will be interested in assessing to see whether it has an advantageous or deleterious affect on patient care.'

Sir Ian said this year's report showed that, overall, patients in England and Wales received a good standard of services in the NHS and independent sector. For the first time, the commission was able to give patients 'meaningful information' about independent sector treatment.

But the commission says the NHS and independent sector must focus on improving patient safety.