Practices in Scotland are to get a £30 million boost to help them through the winter, it has been announced. GP leaders welcomed the proposals, which will give practices significant flexibility about how they use the money. Funding will be available for more administrative and practice manager time as well as for locum sessions to…

Urgent action is needed to look after practice teams as they face a continuing increase in requests for appointments, GP leaders said following the release of the latest data. The latest set of GP appointment data in England shows a rise in the number of GP appointments, including face to face ones, with practices in…

GP practices have voted overwhelmingly for punitive action against the government in the dispute over appointments systems, it was revealed last night. New GP leader Dr Farah Jameel called for the government and media to “step back from the rhetoric of division” and avoid a damaging showdown. The long-awaited findings of the GP ballot show…

The new leader of Britain’s GPs has promised to “reset” the primary care’s relationship with the government in the face of widespread anger over the treatment of practice staff. Dr Farah Jameel, a GP in Camden, London, became the first woman elected to chair the GP committee of the British Medical Association, and stated she…

Residents of a Yorkshire city have been asked to “be kind” to practice staff in an open letter from primary care leaders as GPs warned of a “constant barrage of abuse.” Sheffield’s Clinical Commissioning Group has sought to explain “unprecedented pressures” in the letter to patients. It said: “While we know being poorly or injured can…

GPs will not take action that jeopardises patient care, according to their leader as the profession approaches a decision on how to respond to controversial government plans. Speaking last night, outgoing BMA GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey spoke of the widespread “abuse” of GPs and their staff, from the public and from some politicians.…

MPs are to undertake a major investigation into the crisis in general practice, it has been announced. It came as the number of new GP trainees hit 4,000 for the first time – and amid controversy over the threat of “industrial action” by GPs. The inquiry by the House of Commons health committee is to…