Practices have received their first national guidance on how to begin a protest against the government’s controversial “name and shame” proposals.

The British Medical Association’s GP committee voted last week to reject the £250 million “support” package and to ballot members on industrial action. The BMA has now circulated advice to practices on how to begin their protest against the proposals, which the BMA labels a “bully’s charter.”

It requests members not to comply with the package and suggests further unilateral actions to help reduce workloads. This includes closing lists to new patients and refusing hospital referrals requesting that GPs take over care of out-patients. They have also been advised that they can put a limit on referrals from NHS 111 – and could stop offering extended services at evenings and weekends.

In return practices should seek to improve quality of care, allowing for consultations of 15 minutes or more, it says. They should not “feel pressured to return to a traditional 10-minute treadmill of face-to-face consultations that are neither good for patients nor clinicians”.

The letter states: “We believe that Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, ignored GPs’ expertise and experience when he laid out his bully’s charter, and patient care will suffer as a result.”

A Department of Health spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph: “We want patients to be able to see their GP promptly and in the way they choose. Our plan will improve access and drive up face-to-face appointments by cutting bureaucracy and giving GP teams targeted support, backed by a further £250 million. Alongside this, we are working with NHS England and trade unions to launch a zero-tolerance campaign on abuse of NHS staff.”