GPs in England will get a 1% pay increase as part of the new GMS contract, NHS England has announced.
The new contract will see an investment of £220 million for 2016/17, and part of this will provide a pay uplift of 1% for GPs.
Simon Stevens (pictured), chief executive of NHS England, said: “Today’s welcome agreement between NHS England and the BMA provides GPs with some stability and support, and shows what can be achieved through sensible and constructive negotiation.”
He added that the funding boost is “only one small element of a far wider package we’re jointly developing” in order to help practices with workload, workforce and care redesign.
“That will require radical new options, including further support for GP recruitment and return to practice, funding for additional primary care staff, new options for practice premises, a reduction in paper-based red tape, alternative approaches to indemnity cover, and redesigned out of hours, 111 and extended hours arrangements, to name just a few – all underpinned by much greater team working across individual practices,” Stevens added.
NHS England, the government, and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee worked together to agree the pay increase.
The new developments include:
· GP practices will be required to record data on the availability of evening and weekend opening for routine appointments, which is to be collected until 2020/2021.
· GP practices will annually record the number of instances where a practice pays a locum doctor more than an indicative maximum rate, as set out by NHS England.
· The MenACWY 18 years will be extended to allow for the opportunistic vaccination of 19-25 year old non-freshers who self-present for vaccination.
· NHS Employers and GPC will work with NHS England and the Department of Health to ensure that appropriate and meaningful data relating to patients’ named accountable GP is made available at practice level. This data will be shared internally within practices and used to improve services for patients.
· While the Avoiding Unplanned Admissions Enhanced Service (ES) will continue for a further year with minor amendments to clarify the timeframe around care planning, consideration will be given to its future during the 2017/18 negotiations.
· The Dementia Enhanced Service will cease as at 31 March 2016 and the £42 million resource will be transferred into global sum, in recognition of the fact that GPs are more routinely diagnosing dementia. All other Enhanced Services will continue unchanged.
