I was disappointed that, again, Dr Laurence Buckman is misrepresenting the truth and suggesting that deprived practices are compensated from the global sum (GP, 9 September).
Although the Carr-Hill formula does go some way to recognise the extra work load of deprived practices, this is not converted into additional income due to the under-funding of the global sum. Readers will remember what happened on ‘black Wednesday’ when this came to light.
The upshot is that practices in deprived areas have a Carr-Hill factor greater than one but have a minimal or zero correction factor, whereas those in less deprived areas often have correction factors representing a significant percentage of their income.
Even the DoH, in its White paper ‘Our Health, Our Care, Our Say’, recognises the effect of this iniquitous funding regime.
I am not suggesting that some practices are over-funded, just that additional money must be added to the under-funded global sum so that additional work is truly recognised.
Dr Grant Ingrams
Coventry
