Controversies in primary care Setting prescribing budgets in general practice Capitation based prescribing budgets will not work

General practice prescribing costs have risen rapidly in recent years, and there are wide variations between practices in rates and costs of prescribing. Setting general practice prescribing budgets with a capitation based formula seems to offer a solution to these problems. However, capitation based formulas may unfairly penalise legitimate variations and increases in prescribing costs. We therefore asked Azeem Majeed and Trisha Greenhalgh to give their views on the subject.