General practice will increasingly be based in primary care networks and funding for support roles will be channelled through these organisations, it was announced today.

The development of these networks is a key part of the new GP contract, which proposes the biggest shake-up of general practice for years backed by extra government cash.

Networks should cover between 30,000 and 50,000 patients and have a local GP as clinical director, according to the proposals. They will eventually employ 20,000 staff nationwide.

They will receive full funding for social prescribers together with 70% of the funding they need for clinical pharmacists under the terms of the new contract. Similar funding arrangements are planned as physiotherapists, physician associates and paramedics are introduced into networks.

All practices are to funded to give staff pay increases of at least 2% – and a state-backed indemnity scheme will begin in April.

GP leaders have promised to meet government targets to increase so-called “digital access.” This includes ensuring that 25% of appointments are available for on-line booking and that new patients have access to their electronic records.

NHS 111 is to be allowed to book a limited number of GP appointments for callers. There will also be funding for the burdens posed by new data regulations together with a joint approach to the government to tackle the impact of changes to pension annual allowance.

British Medical Association GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said he was “confident” in the widespread changes in the contract.

He said: “Recent years have seen hard-working family doctors deal with an overstretched workforce doing their best to meet rising demand from patients suffering more and more complex conditions, all on the back of a decade of underinvestment in general practice.

“Therefore, we are pleased after months of discussions with NHS England, to have negotiated a package of reforms to the GP contract and beyond, that will begin addressing the unsustainable situation – whereby doctors are choosing to leave the profession while patients wait longer and longer for appointments – and laying the foundations for a general practice fit for the future.

“Support and funding for Primary Care Networks mean practices can work together, led by a single GP, and employ additional staff to provide a range of services in the local area, ensuring patients have ready access to the right healthcare professional, and helping reduce workload pressures on GPs.”

But the Royal College of GPs said there remained a “desperate need” for a workforce plan. Its chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard welcomed the new contract.

She said: “If implemented correctly, this contract could cultivate a profession that future doctors are eager to join, and where existing GPs want to remain – and can enjoy – working.”

She added: “The RCGP has been making the case for many years that if action isn’t taken, general practice will crumble, and the rest of the NHS behind it. We hope that today’s announcement of the new contract will mean that we can finally turn a corner towards making general practice sustainable for the future.

“Now we need the forthcoming NHS England workforce strategy to deliver viable measures to continue recruitment efforts into general practice, and initiatives to keep more GPs working in it.”