In his first article, our brand new columnist Tim Qwough explains the difference extra funding for practices will make on the ground and questions why ARRS has been left behind

It’s been a strange few months, hasn’t it?

A new Government and a new Prime Minister, Lord Darzi back in the frame, junior doctors accepting a 22% pay rise and an apparent new focus on shifting funding from secondary to primary healthcare.

Then a ‘hike’ to the GP contract that’s welcome but still nowhere near close to what’s needed.

For the first time in years, practices have a small amount of extra funding to invest in their frontline, non-clinical teams … but it misses the mark by quite a few pounds.

I spoke to a very experienced practice manager in the North of England, and the uplift has allowed them to award an increase to all staff, but leaves a paltry amount for GP partners – a rise of about £120 per partner/per session/per annum. 

So, a six session partner at that practice will be looking at an uplift of around £750 for 2024/25 – that is just over 1% and doesn’t cover anywhere near the increases that partners will have to absorb as a result of inflation and rising costs of running the business.

I believe there should be more focus on partners (both GPs and non-clinical) who hold the contract and therefore carry the risk. They hold staff contracts and are liable against occupational claims. Many also own property that requires heavy investment to maintain high standards, and a lack of available funding for developmental IT means there is a financial leap of faith on their behalf every time a new process or tech system is introduced.

Some local practices have shared with me what increment awards they have been able to give staff this year. In the main, they have decided to match this year’s 5.5% Agenda for Change rise, rather than award the 6% recommended by the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration Review Body because it’s more affordable.

I think the frontline salaried teams still see this as a very timely and welcome increase. 

Minimum wage has now grown  so much that our very dedicated, professional and experienced reception and admin teams were not being rewarded very much above, if anything at all, this year’s minimum wage of £11.44 an hour.

But an additional 5.5% represents around 62p extra an hour, which is around £1,230 a year for a full-time equivalent receptionist or admin team employee (the people taking the brunt of the abuse when a patient can’t get an appointment).

After pension, tax and NI these staff members should see around £70 a month more in their wage packets, and of course, most employers will be backdating to April so that’s a very welcome £400-plus extra this month.

That leads me to the ‘bum’ deal we’ve been given for ARRS staff!

So far there’s no extra funding in the pot, so that means either no staff pay awards or less staff.

More money ploughed into the GP contract but nothing at all into the Additional Roles budget means we’ll invest far less in our wider teams, and we’ll lose excellent people and skills back into secondary care where Agenda for Change terms and conditions are the norm. 

Adding GPs into the ARRS budget is short-termism at its finest and although welcome, isn’t a long-term commitment. So we still face the risk of newly qualified GPs looking elsewhere and perhaps losing them from the primary care system or even the NHS, permanently.

We have a new Government and it is very early days but the lyrics by the band The Who spring to mind: ‘Meet the new boss, same as the old boss’.

More mature readers [and better musically educated younger ones] will remember that line from their song, ‘Wont Get Fooled Again’. Oh, the irony.

Someone doesn’t know their ARRS from their elbow.

Tim Qwough is a practice manager located north of Watford