New guidance on PCGs expected in December

The Department of Health's autumn guidance on primary care groups (PCGs) is expected at the beginning of next month.

The chairman of the General Practitioners Committee, Dr John Chisholm, told the committee last week that the guidance would set out the functions which PCGs will be expected to perform and outline what groups will be expected to do before April 1999; outline further details of the financial framework within which the groups' responsibilities will be managed; explain the role of health authorities in developing effective PCGs; and outline the path by which PCGs can move to primary care trust status.

On the financial side it is expected that the guidance will define level two PCG status according to whether the board has assumed devolved responsibility for at least half of the PCG's unified budget. It will indicate that former fundholders, who leave the scheme at the end of 1998-9, should reach agreement with their PCG on how any savings should be deployed within the PCG setting. It will announce incentives in the form of “savings” which will be divided between the …