Doctors' surgeries across south and west Oxfordshire are set to be among the best in the country for the second year running.

A number of surgeries in Didcot, Wallingford, Abingdon, Wantage and Witney gained top marks in the annual quality assessment and the area has improved on last year.

Fourteen of the area's 32 practices scored 100 per cent in the Quality and Outcome Framework - netting 1,050 points out of 1,050. The lowest score in the area was 951.

But the news is a double-edged sword for the cash-strapped South West and South East Primary Care Trusts which will have to reward successful surgeries with an extra £124 for each point gained - giving top performing practices a £130,000 boost.

Last year, GPs in south-east Oxfordshire topped the national table, with colleagues in the south-west of the county not far behind.

This year's national table has yet to be released but, with both areas improving on last year's results, they look set to be in contention for the top spot once again.

The voluntary assessment process, introduced in 2004, aims to be an incentive for doctors to maintain high standards.

Surgeries are measured against a variety of factors including the range and quality of the services they provide.

Dr Stephen Richards, chairman of the PCTs' professional executive committee, said the assessments had driven significant improvement across the board.

He added: "The extra funding makes a big difference to a surgery and, sadly, it makes a big difference to the PCT."

Dr Richards said the PCT received extra Government cash to pass on to GPs but that funding assumed an average score of 85 per cent.

He said the PCT would have to top that up as surgeries in south Oxfordshire had achieved a near 100 per cent average.

But he added that the criteria for the coming year had been made much tighter. He said: "The bar has been raised as expected and it is now as it should have been from the outset.

"I don't expect any practice to get 100 per cent in the coming year."

Dr Richards said there was a danger, as with school tables, that patients could become more selective as the results gap widened.

But he added: "The reassurance this county can take, if they need one, is we are all doing well."