GP core funding under threat, warns GPC

The General Practitioners Committee (GPC) has warned practices which are considering Prime Minister David Cameron’s new voluntary GP contract could lose contractual protection for core services and become vulnerable to takeover.

The GPC has issued guidance saying it cannot guarantee it ‘will be possible for GPs to maintain a ring-fenced budget for core work’. It added the new voluntary GP contract, was likely to be awarded on a time-limited basis only, similar to APMS contracts.

The guidance said there was uncertainly around 'how contracts for core general practice services will fit into the new models and, indeed, whether it will be possible for GPs to maintain a ring-fenced budget for core work'.

It added: “All of these developments have potentially far-reaching implications for GP contracting and service delivery.”

The GPC warned that it was ‘'likely that LMCs and GPs will be asked to consider moving en masse to new arrangements’.

This could include proposals to move away from GMS and PMS contracting arrangements to new local probably time-limited APMS contracts.

The GPC said its preferred outcome for the new models of care would be if 'core GMS or PMS contracts could remain separate from wider population-based contracts for other health services, with the contract held directly with the commissioner’.

However, an NHS England spokesperson contended: “The work is ongoing, [and] we’re very clear that nothing on this issue has been decided on.”