Practices in England are to gain funding of more than £200 million this year in return for taking steps to ensure day-time opening and identify overseas patients.

GP leaders said the new contractual arrangements, announced yesterday, would also reduce bureaucracy for practices.

The contract was announced 24 hours after the government announced legislation to introduce up-front charges for overseas users of the NHS.

Under the deal GPs will be paid £5 million to enable overseas patients with arrangements for paying for their health care – with EHIC or S1 forms – to declare themselves.

GP leaders said this stopped short of them acting as “border police.”

There will also be measures to discourage surgeries from closing during the day-time. Practices that have half-day closures will not be able to claim funding for extended hours.

The new contract deal will also give practices direct reimbursement for their Care Quality Commission fees and £30 million towards indemnity costs.

There will also be a 1% increase in GP earnings and 1.4% extra for general expenses.

The admissions direct enhanced service (DES) will be scrapped allowing another £156 million to be put into practice earnings. GPs will be expected to have a new focus on patients with severe frailty.

British Medical Association GP committee chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “The changes will provide some much needed stability and respite for GP practices by reducing bureaucracy and providing financial relief in key areas. Progress on ending the bureaucratic unplanned admission DES is welcome as it will enable GPs to spend more time looking after frail older patients, rather than on box ticking.

“However, we should not pretend that these changes will solve the enormous challenges confronting general practice that have left many GP practices facing closure. Stagnating budgets, staff shortages and rising patient demand are combining to overwhelm services in many areas of the country.”

He added: “Claiming back funding from overseas countries for hospital services when their citizens use the NHS is nothing new and has been common practice for many years.”

NHS England director of primary care Dr Arvind Madan said: “This is really positive news, especially the agreement between NHS and the BMA to put a mainstream focus on frail older patients. This will help GPs focus their time and resources on the areas that matter most to their patients.”

But Royal College of GPs chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said: “These changes to our annual contract must not be seen as a lever to make hard-pressed GPs compromise their own welfare and patient safety by forcing them to be open at times which might be impractical and unrealistic for their particular local circumstances.

“Smaller practices might need to close temporarily to allow GPs to make home visits, for example, or for their teams to undertake mandatory training. We need to see very clear guidance about when closing practices temporarily during core hours is acceptable – as sometimes there will be no alternative.”