New deal for GPs will fix the front door of the NHS and see the return of the family doctor

For the first time in four years, government and GP representatives have agreed reforms to GP contracts, to fix the front door of the NHS and bring back the family doctor, which was identified as a priority by the Health and Social Care Secretary when he first joined the department. 

The new deal agreed yesterday (February 27) between the government and British Medical Association (BMA) will free up doctors from red tape and box-ticking targets to concentrate on what they do best – treating patients. 

The new agreed contract will modernise general practice by requiring GP surgeries to allow patients to request appointments online throughout working hours from October, freeing up the phones for those who need them most, and making it easier for practices to triage patients based on medical need. The reforms are part of the government's Plan for Change to make general practice fit for the future and will support GPs in taking the first steps to end the 8am scramble for appointments, which so many patients currently endure every day—in turn improving access to GPs for everyone. 

The deal for family doctors is backed by the biggest funding boost for General Practice in years, reversing the decade-long cuts to general practice funding as a share of the NHS budget. 

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:     

“Rebuilding the broken NHS starts with GPs. Patients need to be able to easily book an appointment, in the manner they want, with their regular doctor if they choose. 

“Today, we have taken the first step to fixing the front door to the NHS, bringing back the family doctor, and ending the 8am scramble. 

“Over the past decade, funding for GPs has been cut relative to the rest of the NHS, while the number of targets for GPs has soared. That's why patients are struggling to get an appointment. 

“This government is cutting the red tape that ties up GPs time and backing them with an extra £889 million next year. In return, more patients will be able to request appointments online and see their regular doctor for each appointment. Through the Prime Minister's Plan for Change, we will work with GPs to rebuild the NHS and make it fit for the future.” 

Dr Amanda Doyle, NHS England national director for primary care and community services, said:  

 “Improving patients' access to general practice is a huge priority for the NHS and this contract sets out the next steps to put the family doctor at the heart of the shift to a neighbourhood health service.  

"This is the first time in four years that the GP contract has been accepted as proposed and I hope it will be seen as positive for practices, GP teams and patients when introduced in April.  

“It shows how NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care have listened and delivered on the priorities that matter most to patients and general practice teams, including a significant increase in funding and extra flexibility in the additional roles reimbursement scheme to recruit more staff including GPs.    

“Other key changes include improved digital access for patients, setting out what patients can expect from their practice in a new charter and encouraging GP teams to identify patients with the greatest need that would most benefit from seeing the same clinician at every appointment.”

Today's reforms will be underpinned by an extra £889 million to fix the front door of health, bringing total spend on the GPs contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26.  

The 7.2% boost to the GP contract is faster than the 5.8% growth to the NHS budget as a whole, helping to reverse the decade long trend of GP practices receiving an ever-decreasing percentage of NHS funding and supporting the shift from hospital to community. Lord Darzi found that the share of the health service's budget dedicated to primary care had fallen by a quarter between 2009 and 2021.   

Burdensome red tape on GPs will be reduced by scrapping unnecessary targets like those requiring practices to report on staff wellbeing meetings or to explain how they are reviewing staff access to IT systems. Under the new GP contract, nearly half of the targets (32 of 76) that GPs must report their progress against will be removed. The reforms will free up GPs from pointless box-ticking, so they can spend more time treating patients and delivering the government's promise to bring back the family doctor.  

In addition to patients being able to request GP appointments online, they will also gain clearer information about the care they can expect to receive through the online patient charter – including the services available to them – along with more consistent care as the government introduces measures bring back the family doctor. To make sure those most in need are prioritised, GPs will be incentivised to identify patients who would benefit most from seeing the same GP at every appointment, so more patients see their regular doctor each appointment.     

As part of the government's plan to cut waiting lists, announced earlier this year as part of the Prime Minister's Plan for Change, GPs will be encouraged to seek specialist advice and guidance when unsure about making a referral to hospital. Up to £80 million of funding will be made available for doctors to liaise with specialist consultants, which can avoid people being added onto waiting lists unnecessarily and speed up patient care. 

A majority of respondents to the government's Change NHS online portal have stated fixing difficulties in accessing primary care as a top three priority, and a recent poll by Health Foundation claims it is the number one health concern for 38% of the public.     

As part of ongoing efforts to rebuild relationships with NHS staff following years of underfunding and neglect, the government and British Medical Association (BMA) engaged in constructive discussions which have led to the BMA's general practice committee voting in favour of the proposed GP contract. All parties have worked together to find a fair deal for hardworking NHS staff, but also one that acknowledges the wider economic pressures facing the UK and the need to continue to bring down inflation. 

By fixing the front door of the NHS, these reforms will also ease pressures on other parts of the health service including A&E. 

The reforms form part of the government's Plan for Change which will deliver our mission to build an NHS fit for the future, starting with tackling waiting lists. It will also drive progress on making sure fewer lives are lost to the biggest killers by making sure people are diagnosed and treated earlier. Underpinning this work are three big reform shifts - from ‘hospital to community', bringing care closer to where people live, including through a new neighbourhood health service to deliver more proactive and personalised care; ‘analogue to digital', by rolling out new technologies and digital approaches to modernise the NHS; and from ‘sickness to prevention', shortening the amount of time people spend in ill-health by preventing illnesses before they happen.

This landmark agreement – the first contract agreement reached in four years – represents a step change in relations with NHS staff to help ease workloads for GPs whilst providing better services to patients, as we rebuild the NHS.