The chief scientist reports ... The Scottish general practice shadow fund-holding project--outline of an evaluation

After the agreement in January 1989 between the Minister of Health at the Scottish Office, Mr Michael Forsyth, and six groups of General Practitioners (GPs) in the Grampian and Tayside Regions of Scotland to embark on a 'shadow fund-holding' project, the Government agreed to promote an independent evaluation of the scheme. As a result, the Department of General Practice at Edinburgh University was invited to present plans to evaluate the working of and results of the scheme. Consultations with the Minister and Health Department officials, the general practices concerned, and staff of the two Health Boards involved took place during the first three months of 1990, and an outline protocol for the evaluation was approved and funded through the Chief Scientist Organisation for a three-year period from April 1990. It was agreed by all involved that piecemeal publications of results during the period of the research would be inappropriate, but with other attempts to evaluate fund-holding now being reported elsewhere in the UK, it has been agreed that an outline of issues being explored and the methods being used would be in the general interest. This paper first outlines the principal areas in which the evaluation is being focused, then describes the general methods being used, and finally comments on some of the problems encountered with the evaluation. The project should be seen as a descriptive beginning to what may well be a period of around a decade needed to appreciate the full implications of any major change in the organisation of health service provision.