NHS England has enraged GPs by imposing a new contract, which includes more stipulations around access, but no extra funding.
GP leaders completed a first round of contract negotiations “in the spirit of collaboration, hopeful that common ground could be found,” but when they received and rejected an “insulting” follow-up offer NHS England then abandoned negotiations and imposed a new contract, which starts in April.
Acting chair of the BMA’s England GP Council Dr Kieran Sharrock told Pulse magazine:
“This contract is the result of a failure to listen to what GPs actually need, and totally ignores the calls for any extra support to help practices meet the rising costs of keeping their doors open.
“Despite warnings from GPC England, it also introduces more bureaucracy and arbitrary targets that only set practices up to fail and take GPs away from direct patient care.”
Full story in The Lowdown, 24 March 2023