The 7.2% boost to GP contracts and cutting red tape is a start in the government’s plans to free up doctors to treat patients.
It has been a long two months, but the government and The British Medical Association’s (BMA) GP Committee for England (GPCE) have agreed on proposed amendments to the 2025/26 GP GMS (General Medical Services) contract.
The government hopes that the new contract will free up doctors from red tape and box-ticking targets to concentrate on treating patients and it points out that the 7.2% boost to the GP contract is faster than the 5.8% growth to the NHS budget as a whole.
It is scrapping targets like those requiring practices to report on staff wellbeing meetings or to explain how they are reviewing staff access to IT systems. Under the new GP contract, nearly half of the targets (32 of 76) that GPs must report their progress against will be removed.
“This government is cutting the red tape that ties up GPs time and backing them with an extra £889 million next year. In return, more patients will be able to request appointments online and see their regular doctor for each appointment,” said health and social care secretary Wes Streeting.
The money is made up of almost £800 million in national funding to help cover rising costs – including staff and premises expenses and patient list growth. The remainder is for a new enhanced service that compensates GPs for advice and guidance requests: the correspondence that GPs send to hospital consultants to ensure patients receive the best care in the most appropriate setting.
A turning point?
The agreement has been broadly welcomed by the industry.
“It is the BMA and GPCE’s job to unite the profession, speak up for GPs, and do what we can to protect the future of the profession. After 15 years of erosion to the value of practice contracts these proposed changes mark a turning point,” said GPCE chair Katie Bramall-Stainer.
She cautioned, however, that more was needed emphasising that the government must now recognise the imperative to deliver a new contract within the current Parliament for meaningful reform and vital investment.
“We know the Treasury will be announcing its funding plans for this Parliament and its ten-year plan for the NHS later this Spring, and we need to see a new substantive GP practice contract for England in the upcoming comprehensive spending review. This is how government can put its words into action and bring back the family doctor, fix the front door of the NHS, and shift resources from a hospital focus towards care closer to home within the community at your local surgery,” she continued.
