FAMILY doctors in Swindon are set to reject proposals to modernise front line health services.

Many claim the moves will leave them in some instances worse off.

While GPs initially welcomed the scheme, which will see average funding for practices rise by 33 per cent over the next three years, they are not happy with the small print of the proposed contracts.

The issue will come under the spotlight at an emergency meeting of the local medical committee on Monday, ahead of a national ballot on whether to accept the new contract.

Swindon's medical committee chairman Dr Peter Swinyard, who is based at the Phoenix Surgery in Toothill, said: "One of the main changes to the contract is that money will follow the patient, rather than following the doctor. Overall this is a good idea, but there is a problem with the formula used to allocate funding."

He explained that the formula took into account factors such as the age of patients served by a surgery, their types of employment and whether the area was a rural one.

He said: "West Swindon does very badly indeed under the formula. Our practice of 6,100 real people will be resourced only to the level of the 4,300 notional patients.

"One of our partners is leaving the Phoenix Surgery, and under this new contract, we will probably not be able to replace him."

Peter Crouch, police surgeon and partner in the Taw Hill Medical Practice, agrees. He said: "GPs were initially very excited by what seemed to be an attempt to modernise primary care.

"But when we saw the costings we felt the vast majority of GPs would not be as well off as they initially felt they might. Even a practice such as Taw Hill, which is getting Government support to help set it up, still stands to lose out."

The idea behind the new contract is to tackle a crisis in general practice, which has seen a shortage of GPs and a large number of expected retirements in the near future.

Funding will follow the patient, so if a practice loses a partner, it will retain its funding.

Half of the money received by a surgery will come every month from a global sum, which is based on the weighted needs of patients registered there. The exact sum will be based on factors such as age, sex, mortality rates, the number of residential home patients and market forces.

Further money will be paid on a points system, earned by an array of patient services which are translated into money for the practice.

Dr Eric Holliday of Eldene Health Centre is not among the critics of the new system. He said: "I am quite positive about the new way of working but the devil is in the detail. I think surgeries in West Swindon will not do well out of this formula because they are not like the rest of the country. It is atypical because it has very few elderly people living in the area.

"From my perspective, there are two strengths of the scheme. Firstly, the new contract defines for the first time what standard general practice is.

"Secondly, there are some really sensible targets that have been set."

Not only are we being asked to record blood pressure, we are also being asked to provide data on whether we are able to lower that blood pressure. Overall I think it is an improvement."