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Press release: NHS Employers and BMA publish findings of GMS formula consultation

10 Sep 2007

NHS Employers and the British Medical Association's General Practitioners Committee today (10 September 2007) publish a joint report on the outcome of the consultation on the review of the global sum allocation formula for practice funding.

The report follows a three month consultation to seek the views of GPs, Primary Care Organisations and other stakeholders on a number of proposals to change the formula. It is the result of over 18 months of work in which the Formula Review Group (FRG) conducted a detailed examination of all factors in the current General Practice funding formula and investigated a number of additional factors for possible inclusion in a revised formula.

The FRG's report will now be submitted to the health departments who will consider if, how and when they wish to see the recommendations of the formula review group taken forward.   The GPC and NHS Employers will then discuss next steps.

Related publications

GMS Formula Review report to plenary and the Department of Health, September 2007 (167 kB PDF)
A summary report on responses to a consultation, on the review of the GMS global sum formula.|

Notes for editors

•  As part of this work the group commissioned detailed research projects from independent academic organisations.  
• The consultation forms part of the formula review that was agreed when the new GMS contract was introduced. The review did not consider the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee - this will be considered separately
• The FRG is made up of negotiators from NHS Employers and the GPC, representatives from the four UK health departments and independent academics

The following questions were asked during the consultation: 

• Should we seek to implement the proposed new formula?
• If implemented, should the new formula be phased in over a number of years or implemented fully from the start?
•  Would you wish to see implementation of the new formula even if the resulting redistribution of the same overall resource envelope meant that some practices would lose income?
• Should any caveats be applied prior to any implementation of a new formula?
•  Should a revised global sum formula include a rurality adjustment in addition to the Cost of Unavoidable Smallness adjustment?
• Should practices be asked to record data regarding the use of interpreters or the number of patients who do not speak the language of their primary healthcare professional?
  

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