GPC calls off ballot on mass resignation

The General Practitioners Committee (GPC) has called off plans to ballot its members of the prospect of a mass resignation, after claiming it has won concession on work load from NHS England.

The Committee has announced that NHS England has agreed to take on board a number of suggestions from its Urgent Prescription for General Practice, which advised safer working hours and longer appointments.

Instead of the ballot, the GPC said it would hold a survey in September, compiling GP opinions on future negotiations with the government.

According to British Medical Association (BMA), several of the demand listed in the Urgent Prescription will be negotiated, including: ensuring that GPs work within safe limits each day; enabling GPs to have longer appointments to meet the needs of patients, and in particular those with complex and multiple problems; ending inappropriate workload demands on GPs that could be done by other parts of the NHS; empowering patients to better manage their own health when appropriate; ending time consuming bureaucracy, such as chasing up hospital actions or re-referring patients, time that could instead be spent providing more appointments to patients; and providing GP practices with more frontline staff and facilities to meet record increase in the public’s demand for GP services, especially from an ageing population.

A letter from Rosamund Roughton, NHS England director of commissioning, said: “NHS England accepts the BMA’s Urgent Prescription as a good basis for further discussion and work on supporting general practice pressures, also noting that some of the proposals need greater detail. We have continued to discuss the areas that are included in the Urgent Prescription but not in the General Practice Forward View.”

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, GPC chair, said: “In response to the calls from the BMA, NHSE has accepted taking forward our proposals to alleviate the unsustainable pressures on practices. Crucially, NHS England has recognised that GPs need to work within manageable workload limits to ensure safe and quality patient care.

“The BMA will now be meeting NHS England to develop these proposals further, as well as putting pressure on NHSE to deliver on promises made in its General Practice Forward View plans, so that urgent support is delivered to frontline GP services.”