Press release: NHS Employers and the GPC announce changes to the national GP contract
03 Apr 2008
NHS Employers and the BMA's General Practitioners Committee (GPC) today announce that they have reached a settlement on the key changes to the GMS contract for 2008/9.
The negotiating parties now have in place a broad framework for the contract changes from 1 April 2008, although finer details on certain aspects, such as the new access arrangements, are still being discussed.
The changes, which follow months of discussions between negotiators on both sides, include the following:
Access DES England - general practices will be asked to provide around 3 hours extra appointment time per average practice a week at times that suit the needs of their patients. Details of the Extended Opening Hours Directed Enhanced Service (DES) are still being finalised, however PCTs are now consulting their practices about how the extended hours will work at local level. Some PCTs have already put in place a Local Enhanced Service (LES) that provides for extended opening hours in general practice.
1.5% investment - on the back of the Government's offer of an additional 1.5% investment nationally in the GMS contract to fund new services for patients, it has been agreed that this investment in England will be allocated as follows:
* firstly to meet the cost of any 2008/09 inflation uplift as determined by the Government following a DDRB recommendation
* should any of the 1.5% remain, this would be invested in clinical areas (potentially up to £50m in England) - the detail of this is currently being discussed with GPC
* any remaining money within the 1.5% would be offered through PCTs in England for local agreement with practices to provide additional services to improve local access and responsiveness
QOF - a number of small changes will be made to the quality and outcomes framework (QOF). These include amendments to the indicators to ensure that they reflect the latest in clinical evidence and the removal of 58.5 QOF points to fund easier access to an appointment with a GP and to booking an appointment more than 2 days ahead. There will be a new national patient experience survey which will measure these improvements.
IM & T DES - practice eligibility to receive one-off payments will continue for England for a further year until 31 March 2009.
The legal framework of updated Directions and the Statement of Financial Entitlements to support these changes is still being finalised.
Dr Barbara Hakin, Chair of NHS Employers' negotiating team, said:
'This has been a difficult agreement to secure and both sides have put in a great deal of work to ensure that the final changes to the contract would improve services to patients and give the GPs the tools they need to deliver them.
'These changes will result in some significant changes to the way GPs serve the needs of their patients locally. PCTs will now start discussions with GP practices at local level on the particular needs of their populations in relation to access.'
Dr Laurence Buckman, Chair of the GPC, said: "GPs and their practices will be relieved that this long process is over and that they can get on with providing service to their patients. GPC will continue working with NHS Employers to clarify all of the details of this set of changes."
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