Government plans to ‘bring back the GP’ with extra £889m. to general practitioners in an attempt to end the dispute | Politics news

The Government plans to “bring back the GP” by giving GPs an extra £889m to spend time with patients in a bid to end a dispute.

Under proposals for the new GP contract for 2025/26, which are out for consultation now, GPs will be encouraged to ensure patients with the greatest need see the same doctor every time.

The Government said it will provide an extra £889m on top of the existing GP budget to help “cut red tape” so doctors can do their jobs.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said the plan is also to reduce the number of “outdated performance targets” from 76 to 44, so GPs can spend more time with patients.

Doctors who are members of the British Medical Association (BMA) are currently in a period of “collective action”voted in August when they say their annual budget increases over the past five years have fallen well below inflation – making it difficult for doctors to meet the rising costs of surgery practices – and have caused hundreds of surgeries to close.

Doctors can choose what action to take, from withdrawing data-sharing agreements to limiting daily patient contacts to 25, which the BMA says is the recommended safe maximum but is well below how many GPs currently see.

Streeting said he hopes the proposals for next year’s contract, which will be revealed in the spring, will ensure GPs end their collective action.

Health Secretary Stephen Kinnock said the extra £889m has come from “moving money from within the system” and “reprioritisation”.

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Dr. Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of the BMA’s England GP committee, said the announcement was a “positive starting point for an evolving conversation” and GPs “eagerly await” further details on how the proposals will work.

She added that GPs have been “frantic with worry” about the impact of the “crippling increase” in employers’ National Insurance they will have to pay from April after the Government increased it at the October Budget.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, president of the Royal College of GPs, said the £889m is “positive news for patients and the wider NHS” but warned there is a “long way to go” as the current GP contract is “not fit for purpose” and there are still concerns about the National Insurance increase.

“We are also pleased to see a focus on freeing GPs from some of the bureaucratic burden that keeps them away from patients, giving practices more flexibility around the recruitment of doctors and nurses, and the impetus to support GPs and our teams to deliver continuity of care which we know has benefits for both patients and the NHS,” she said.

“However, while we hope this package announced today will help stabilize general practice and provide some much-needed certainty for hard-working GPs and our teams, there is a long way to go.”

Mr. Streeting said: “General practice is reeling under the burden of red tape, with GPs filling in forms rather than treating patients. Clearly the system is broken, which is why we are cutting red tape, scrapping outdated performance measures and in instead frees doctors to do their work.

“We promised to bring back the family doctor, but we want to be judged on results – not promises. That’s why we want to encourage GPs to ensure that more and more patients see the same doctor at every appointment.”

He said the government has already started hiring a further 1,000 NHS GPs and called on GPs to “work with us to get the NHS back on its feet and end their collective action”.