The big talking point of the last week has undoubtedly been the publication of the latest NHS Long Term Plan. The 136-page, 10-year plan sets out how a £20.5bn annual budget increase promised last year will be spent. A number of key areas are in line for a funding boost including the digitisation of care…

By Russell Finn This year’s Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) report has not yet been released, so this year’s GMS contract changes have been split into two. The first change will come into effect on 1st April; the second will probably follow in September and the exact details of the further uplift will be…

A £16 million rescue fund for general practice is failing to find its way to surgeries, it was claimed yesterday. Just 16 out of 40 local medical committees stated that money had found its way to the front-line in a survey by the British Medical Association. Some £40 million has been allocated to the resilience…

GP leaders have expressed alarm that practices will be stripped of doctors by a huge cash injection for urgent care work. Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday pumped £100 million into projects aimed at setting up primary care centres alongside A&E departments. The plan is backed by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine – but not by…

At the start of the year we asked our members to post questions for an interview with Dr Robert Varnam (Director of General Practice Development at NHS England). We had an excellent response, and here is the interview!

A year ago, NHS England launched ‘Making Time in General Practice’ highlighting the increasing workload crisis in general practice. The Primary Care Foundation, who produced this report with NHS Alliance, have now been asked to follow up this work in two ways; repeating a survey about the current bureaucratic burden in practices and extending an…

There have been plenty of reports recently of delayed or incorrect payments to practices from the NHS. In some cases this has led to salary payments bouncing, direct debits being returned and plenty of headaches and extra work for practice managers. The problem appears to be getting worse and many PMs are saying that they’re…