‘Vital’ to build on recent successes, says GPC chair

The fight to save general practice is a fight to save the whole of the NHS, the BMA GPs committee chair Richard Vautrey has warned.

The battle to securing greater funding, tackling unsafe workloads and addressing the recruitment crisis continues in practices across England despite the many notable improvements, the English local medical committee heard.

Speaking at the conference in London, Vautrey said he was proud of his committee’s achievements and the efforts of GPs countrywide.

He added, however, that it was vital to build upon recent successes such as the reimbursement of Care Quality Commission fees and financial support towards indemnity costs, by continuing to push the government for a better deal.

Vautrey said that current funding settlements for general practice were simply ‘too small’, highlighting how the NHS budget was now below the 9.6 per cent of the NHS budget allocated in 2006.

He said that with GPs increasingly having to provide care to meet the specialised needs of a patient community with ever-growing demand, it was essential that doctors were given the necessary resources to meet this challenge.

Vautrey’s speech coincides with the BMA’s Saving General Practice campaign, which calls for the following areas to be addressed: recurrent and sustainable funding and resources to secure a minimum spend of 11 per cent of the total NHS budget invested in general practice; a workforce strategy that is recurrently funded to enable an expansion of a collaborative multidisciplinary general practice and community workforce working both in practices and within localities; a sustainable, long-term indemnity package for general practice that covers all GPs on the national performers list and all staff providing NHS general practice services both in and out of hours; enabling practices to manage their workload in order to deliver safe services and empower patients and carers; the retention of a national core contract for general practice that provides a high-quality service for patients; and premises, IT infrastructure and administrative support to enable the delivery of quality care.

Richard Vautrey, BMA GPs committee chair, said: “Conference, the crisis is with us, the task is urgent but the solution is clear. General practice is the foundation on which the NHS is built but it is a foundation that is cracking and weak. If we want to deal with the many problems facing the NHS we have to save general practice.

“We’ve scrapped the worst elements of [the quality and outcomes framework], we ended a whole series of micromanaging and bureaucratic [measures] we’ve secured maternity pay and guaranteed sickness pay for GPs, we’ve secured funding to cover in-year indemnity rises and we’ve even got full reimbursement of [Care Quality Commission] fees.

“And crucially, on top of all that, we’ve started to turn the tide on a decade of funding cuts and secured over £500 million recurrent investment into general practice in the last two years, investment that is vital for practices right across the country.

“We are professionals delivering the most popular public service not just by coincidence, but because of our hard work and dedication, our willingness to innovate, our ability to respond rapidly to change and because we know our patients and we are willing to stand up and fight for their healthcare.

“Removing the burden of indemnity, delivering an expanded workforce team, dealing with unsafe workload levels, having premises and IT systems fit for the 21st century and crucially having the recurrent funding to sustain what we do.

“These are the things that will save general practice. This is what the government must do. This is what we will fight for.”

Helen Stokes-Lampard, Royal College of GPs chair, said: “We welcome this new report which backs up what we've been saying on the severe workload and workforce pressures facing general practice and our calls for further investment and resources to support hardworking GPs and their teams.

“GPs are seeing more than one million patient consultations every day – accounting for the vast majority of NHS patient contacts – yet we've had a decade of underinvestment in general practice, and our workforce has not kept up with patient demand.

"General practice is the bedrock of the NHS and GPs right across the country are working flat out to provide care for as many patients as we possibly can but there are limits beyond which we can no longer guarantee safe care to our patients and this desperately needs to change.”