England’s GP leaders will meet for a special conference in March to discuss next steps to escalate their protests following tax hikes and the recent contract offer from the Government.
In November, LMC representatives declared that the Autumn Budget tax hikes will make NHS general practice unsustainable as a business model and called for a conference to address this issue.
Now the BMA’s GP committee has set a date for the event, which will take place on 19 March in London.
In an update to GPs, the GPC said: ‘This was requested by the conference of England LMCs to further assess the critical state of general practice in light of any government contractual offer.
‘The focus will be to discuss and determine what escalatory steps will be needed to ensure the survival of what still remains of English general practice.’
LMCs voted in favour of the conference in a special vote last year, which only required support from a third of the 102 LMCs present, despite ‘context’ given by the GPDF that it would cost £110,000. In all, around 40 LMCs voted in favour.
LMC leaders also instructed the GPC to ballot the profession on stepping up industrial action to enhance pressure on the Government to improve contract terms and funding.
Instructions on how to register for the special conference and how to submit motions have been sent to LMCs.
The deadline for LMCs to submit motions is 12pm 27 January, while the deadline for LMCs to register representatives is 17 February.
YOR LMC medical secretary Dr Brian McGregor said that some of the steps that could be considered during the special conference are whether or not to extend collective action and ‘possibly consider further action such as undated contract resignations’.
‘Consider talking to your LMC members to ensure they are aware of your position on this,’ he told local GPs in an update.
It comes after the Government unveiled the first details of the next GP contract, including an extra £889m ‘on top of the existing budget’ for general practice.
The proposals did not mention the impact that the national insurance contribution rises will have on practices, and carried no promise of funding to offset those specifically.
Pulse had previously revealed that the changes announced in the Budget could cost GP practices across England a total of £260m.
