BMA angered by lack of GP recovery plan

The BMA and NHS England negotiate annually on amendments to the five-year GP contract introduced in 2019. In the latest round, the union asked for further support for general practice as it faced unprecedented pressures as well as pandemic recovery.

It called for several measures to help family doctors, including a general practice pandemic recovery plan that reflected ‘the emphasis and urgency placed on the elective recovery plan’. It also asked for funding to cover the increase in employer national insurance contributions (the health and social care levy) due in April, and rising inflation. Practices will lose frontline staff without this additional funding, it added.

‘We are bitterly disappointed that NHS England has chosen to ignore the appeals from the profession and the needs of patients,’ said BMA GP leader Farrah Jameel.

‘Failing to offer practices something as simple as reimbursement to cover additional costs for national insurance contributions means they are losing funding that should be going towards looking after patients.

‘Therefore, a tax aimed at funding the NHS, has become a tax on the NHS itself. The result will be fewer members of staff to care for the growing needs of patients,’ Dr Jameel added.

The BMA also called for primary care networks (PCNs) to be allowed to employ a wider range of professionals so that they can meet local patient needs and not be bound by ‘rigid, prescriptive job roles’.

A letter outlining the changes for 2022/23, which the BMA has not supported, said NHS England, NHS Improvement and the government were committed to honouring the 2019 deal. Signed by NHS England and NHS Improvement medical director of primary care Nikki Kanani (pictured) and primary care director Ursula Montgomery, it said an ongoing review of how PCNs would fit into the new integrated structure would seek to ensure they realise their full potential.

PCNs would continue to play a key role in expanding primary care capacity under the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS), it added, and would have the flexibility to hire into 15 different roles.

The national leaders were confident, based on ARRS financial returns, that 15,500 whole-time equivalent (WTEs) staff will be recruited by the end of 2021/22 - meeting the national target. PCNs were on track to meet the targets of 21,000 WTEs by the end of 2022/23 and 26,000 by 2023/24, it added. The letter confirmed funding for the additional staff will rise to £1bn in 2022/23.

After a delay due to the pandemic, PCNs will also deliver extended access to general practice from October. Two funding streams that have been supporting extended access will be merged to form a ‘single, combined and nationally consistent access offer’, the letter added.

There will also be changes to online booking requirements – rather than 25% of all appointments available for booking online, from April all that do not require triage must be available to book online, via the phone, or in person.

No new indicators will be added to the quality and outcomes framework (QOF) when the temporary income protection arrangements come to an end at the beginning of April.