Extra £50 per patient would ‘regain’ ground lost to inflation in last decade, GPs say

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By Daniel Pye

Increasing core practice funding by £50 per patient is a key negotiating aim, the British Medical Association has said.

Doctors have said this increase will largely regain ground lost to inflation over the last decade, and would give practices more flexibility over their budgets

The union’s general practitioners committee in England (GPCE) said its focus was on “securing a confirmed roadmap” with the government for the increase, as well as clarity on turning “unsafe demand into manageable care for our patients”.

Dr Clare Bannon, GPCE chair, called upcoming negotiations a “golden opportunity to reset relations”.

The GPCE has been in formal dispute with the government since the current general medical services contract was imposed in April.

It triggered collective action a month later, with GP practices no longer sharing patient data with other organisations in the form of practice data sharing agreements. Plans to escalate collective action were postponed last week when the GPCE re-entered the negotiations.