Now that the British Medical Association (BMA) has opened its ballot for collective action among General Practitioners (GPs) in England, in protest at the imposition of the latest GP contract, Practice Index has asked a number of Practice Managers how they feel about any upcoming action. From now until midday on Monday 29th July, GP…

Practices may be struggling to pay for locums GP leaders have called for additional roles funding to include locum doctors as it has emerged that some are struggling to get work. Official NHS figures show a 35% reduction in the number of ad hoc locums working in general practice in the last year. Dr Mark…

Another funding storm is on the horizon with the recently announced rise in national practice contract funding for England. For all the people working in general practice, a rise is a rise, but when it amounts to about 2% in the context of an overstretched service, in which some doctors working in other parts of…

NHS England recently published a letter outlining details of the 2024/25 GP contract. Not many of us were expecting a huge windfall for practices this year, but even so, it was still a shock to find out just how little is being invested in general practice in the coming year. In this month’s podcast, I…

Practices praised for delivering record numbers of appointments November 2023 was the busiest November ever for general practice, according to NHS England, and this highlights the enormous pressure on GP services. The number of appointments was 30% higher than before the pandemic, and almost 70% of appointments were in person. NHS England Director for Primary…

The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, commits to every patient having the right to be offered digital-first primary care by 2023/24. The various commitments that make up this plan have been introduced gradually every year through the GP Contract since 2019/20, which means GP practices should, among other new requirements, now offer an…

This week, NHSE have released their Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care along with a covering letter. Well, dear readers, I’ve waded through it, as I’m sure many of you will have done, and I’ll admit to being a bit confused. As is common of late, many of the announcements and ideas that…