11:10am UK, Thursday February 28, 2008

Joey Jones, Political correspondent

An independent report on the controversial contract for GPs has concluded it does not offer value for money for the taxpayer.

180 doctor examination gp patient hospital

GP partners' pay is up 58%

The National Audit Office publication is strongly critical of the contract, arguing many of the benefits that ministers had hoped it would bring about have failed to materialise.

The NAO finds GP partners have seen their pay increase by 58% since 2002/03, and yet in the same period productivity has fallen by an average of 2.5% per year.

The report author, Karen Taylor, concedes that the contract has brought about significant improvements in GP recruitment and retention.

But, she writes: "There have been no measurable improvements in moving services into deprived or under-doctored areas, which was one of the original aims."

Meanwhile the Tories have continued their attempts to gain the ascendancy in the health debate.

In an interview with the Times, Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley suggested he expected health spending would increase under the Tories by 2% of GDP, or £28 billion a year.

Speaking to Sky News, Andrew Lansley insisted the newspaper had been wrong to suggest his word represent a "spending commitment."

But it is unlikely that Shadow chancellor George Osborne will have been pleased to see his colleague allowing himself to be drawn into specific figures, and even pointing out that as health spending rises, expenditure in other areas will inevitably face a squeeze.