QoF/QMAS Underpayments

Last week we informed you of a DH letter to PCTs with regard to underpayments in QoF. Following the publication of this letter, PCTs should now have informed all practices what QMAS repayment they are entitled to and when it will be paid. The information that PCTs have been provided does not enable them to break the figures down on a year by year basis, and therefore practices should treat the income as relating to 2010/11 only. You can find out if your practice has been under paid and by how much by finding your practice code on this spreadsheet. The GPC has produced this FAQ to help answer questions that are arising including whether this will raise any retrospective superannuation issues; because the payment should be treated by practices as a one-off payment in 2010/11, then this will not affect superannuation payments, seniority or tax returns (for previous years).

As this is a one-off in year payment to the practice it is for each practice to deal with the distribution of the payment according to their normal practice and/or the partnership agreement. Practices may also need to take accountancy advice.

CQC Registration

All GP practices should have received this introductory letter and briefing note about CQC registration by post from the Care Quality Commission. The GPC intends to publish its ‘CQC for NHS GPs’ toolkit in early spring 2011. This toolkit will contain guidance on applying and complying. When practices apply for CQC registration from October 2011 they will be expected to declare compliance with the CQC’s standards for the regulated activities that they perform but not actually have to demonstrate compliance at that point. Only practices that declare non-compliance with any of the standards should be contacted by the CQC before April 2012 about how to become compliant. Otherwise the monitoring of compliance by CQC will not commence until April 2012.