BMA Q and A: what has happened to the GP rescue package?

BMA GPs committee chair Chaand Nagpaul answers your questions A special local medical committees conference was held in January that gave the BMA GPs committee six months to negotiate a ‘rescue package’ for general practice with the Government. What has happened since then? We have worked hard to demonstrate the reality of the crisis via our Urgent Prescription for General Practice campaign. Our heatmap survey results in February, March and April highlighted that nine out of 10 practices have seen a rise in workload over the past year, and half report that quality of care has deteriorated. One in 10 says they are financially unsustainable and almost half struggle to obtain locum cover. We secured a reduction in red tape in the GP contract in England for 2016-17, ending the enhanced dementia service with funding transferred into core budgets, and achieved a £220m investment to address rising expenses. We have published our rescue plan for general practice, setting out tangible, deliverable actions to address the unmanageable pressures facing GPs and their staff. NHS England published its General Practice Forward View, which sets out its package of support for general practice.   What is the BMA’s response to the NHS England Forward View? The Forward View concedes the workforce, workload and funding crises in general practice, responding to our sustained lobbying. It proposes to reverse the decline in general practice funding to a progressive ri...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news