The Government is aiming to formalise a new GP practice-level reimbursement scheme next month, according to the BMA.
In an update to its members, the union said NHS England had ‘begun discussions’ with the Government about adding the scheme to an amended statement of financial entitlements (SFE).
Details of the scheme were not included in the SFE that was published last week, but NHS England said it aims to amend it by 1 May. However, NHS England ‘cannot yet confirm’ the 1 May date because the Government Legal Department (GLD) ‘is still considering the complexity of the drafting’, the BMA said.
Practices will be able to submit backdated claims for the whole financial year regardless of when the amendment is published, NHS England has clarified.
Introduced as part of the 2026/27 GP contract, the reimbursement scheme moves £292m from PCNs for GP practices to recruit new GPs or increase GP sessions.
NHS England told the BMA’s GP committee for England (GPCE): ‘The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England are working at pace to identify the least bureaucratic and most sensible way to stand the scheme up and will continue working with GPC England on its development. Scheme details will be communicated in due course via an amendment to the SFE and accompanying guidance.
‘However, we want to reassure practices that funding will continue to be claimable for the whole of the financial year, regardless of when the SFE amendment comes into force and the claims portal comes online, i.e. claims can be backdated.’
The £292m was ‘repurposed’ from the PCN-level Capacity and Access Payment (CAP), which was part of the Network Contract DES.
NHS England DES guidance, published last week, revealed that GPs employed through CAP are eligible to transfer to the reimbursement scheme.
While some GPs have welcomed the diverting of funds to GP practice level, PCN managers have warned that removal of the CAP will have a major impact on networks and the services they provide.
In a response released last week, the Institute of General Practice Management (IGPM) has pointed out that many networks use that funding for a range of initiatives to reduce or manage demand on GP appointments.
These include creating additional services, such as housebound visiting services, prescription hubs, respiratory clinics, winter illness centres and more; using the CAP money to complement ARRS roles so staff can be offered more competitive pay; supporting the sub-contracting of services to specialist providers; or to buy software to aid collaborative working, reviewing population health data and risk stratification.
The IGPM’s national PCN representatives, Sarah Cole and Kerryann Dolbear, said with the funds being diverted, PCNs face ‘the difficult reality of cutting these services or making staff redundant within a very tight timescale, without adequate detail provided to enable PCNs to plan their services and/or take appropriate employment advice. ‘
‘This will inevitably impact patient care,’ they added, and that the situation has ‘created huge anxiety for PCNs and practices alike’.
The IGPM also said the lack of detail from the Government about the rules surrounding what the money can now be spent on and whether it will be recurrent money is ‘completely unacceptable’.
‘Practices need to be given further reassurance around any new recruitment they undertake, and what contractual terms they are able to offer. All of these things need time to be effectively, safely and legally managed, yet the Government has offered nothing other than a few high-level sentences on the matter,’ its PCN reps said.
PCNs also need clarity on what support will be provided to them as money transitions away from their existing services and staff.
‘The IGPM calls on our colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to listen to the voices at the coal face and provide us with the tools to enable us to run safe and effective primary care services’ Ms Cole and Dolbear concluded.
Part of this story was first published by our sister title Pulse
