GPs need cultural shift to take on commissioning role, says think tank lead

A culture change in the way GPs work is needed in order for commissioning to be successful, according to a member of a right-wing think tank.

Doctors for Reform steering committee member, Dr Paul Charlson, also said that the burden of commissioning would fall on a relatively small number of GPs, the Health Service Journal reports.

Dr Charlson said GPs were often involved in 'fairly low challenge work' and 'waste a lot of time seeing trivia'. This would have to change, with GPs freeing up time for commissioning, and passing on less challenging work to other professions, such as nurses.

He also said a cultural shift was needed in how non-clinical work was viewed by some GPs.

'What's often seen by colleagues, who just want to do clinical work, is that if you go off to meetings, that's somehow an add-on that isn't part of your job,' he said. 'But it's got to be seen as part of the job.'

Dr Charlson was speaking at a Westminster Health Forum event on world class commissioning.