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GP contract five-year framework

The NHS Long Term Plan committed £4.5 billion more for primary medical and community health services by 2023/24. This will support better care for patients outside hospital in their local communities.

NHS England and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee have agreed a five-year GP (General Medical Services) contract framework from 2019/20 . The new contract framework marks some of the biggest general practice contract changes in over a decade and will be essential to deliver the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan through strong general practice services.

The contract increases investment and more certainty around funding and looks to reduce pressure and stabilise general practice. It will ensure general practice plays a leading role in every Primary Care Network (PCN) which will include bigger teams of health professionals working together in local communities. It will mean much closer working between networks and their Integrated Care System.

A short summary of key parts of the contract

  • Core general practice funding will increase by £978 million per year by 2023/24.
  • A PCN contract will be introduced from 1 July 2019 as a Directed Enhanced Service (DES). It will ensure general practice plays a leading role in every PCN and mean much closer working between networks and their Integrated Care System. This will be supported by a PCN Development Programme which will be centrally funded and locally delivered.
  • By 2023/24, the PCN contract is expected to invest £1.799 billion, or £1.47 million per typical network covering 50,000 people. This will include funding for around 20,000 more health professionals including additional clinical pharmacists, physician associates, first contact physiotherapists, community paramedics and social prescribing link workers. Bigger teams of health professionals will work across PCNs, as part of community teams, providing tailored care for patients and will allow GPs to focus more on patients with complex needs.
  • A new shared savings scheme for PCNs so GPs benefit from their work to reduce avoidable A&E attendances, admissions and delayed discharge, and from reducing avoidable outpatient visits and over-medication through a pharmacy review.
  • A new state backed indemnity scheme will start from April 2019 for all general practice staff including out-of-hours.
  • Additional funding of IT which will allow both people and practices to benefit from the latest digital technologies. All patients will have the right to digital-first primary care, including web and video consultations by 2021. All practices will be offering repeat prescriptions electronically from April 2019 and patients will have digital access to their full records from 2020.
  • A new primary care Fellowship Scheme will be introduced for newly qualifying nurses and GPs, as well as Training Hubs.
  • Improvements to the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) to bring in more clinically appropriate indicators such as diabetes, blood pressure control and cervical screening. There will also be reviews of heart failure, asthma and mental health. In addition there will be the introduction of quality improvement modules for prescribing safety and end of life care.
  • Extra access funding of £30 million a year will expand extended hours provision across PCNs and from 2019 see GP practices taking same-day bookings direct from NHS 111 when clinically appropriate.

This contract framework will see billions of extra investment for improved access to family doctors, expanded services at local practices and longer appointments for patients who need them.

NHS England press release.

The new negotiated GP contract agreement England 2019/20 was released. The webpage (http://www.bma.org.uk/gpcontractengland) has now been updated to include the full agreement document which has now been published jointly between the BMA and NHS England.

We are pleased to confirm that the LMC will be hosting the roadshow delivered by the GPC following the conclusion of this year’s contract negotiations. This event will be delivered by Richard Vautrey, GPC Exec (Chair, BMA GP Committee). This is a free event and open to GPs and PMs.

Details:

  • Date – Thursday 28th March 2019,
  • Time – 7:00pm – 8.30pm
  • Venue – Hilton Hotel Leicester, Junction 21 Approach, Leicester, LE19 1WQ
  • Catering and refreshments will be available from 6.15pm

In order to confirm your place, please email enquiries@llrlmc.co.uk and we will confirm the venue as soon as possible.