LMCs to consider exploring new models of general practice outside GMS contract

GP leaders from across the UK will vote on a motion calling for the BMA to consider new models of general practice outside the GMS, PMS and APMS contract model.

LMCs will also debate a motion calling for ‘additional funding’ for practices in deprived areas, which states that the Carr-Hill formula is ‘no longer fit for purpose’.

The motions will be presented to the UK LMCs’ conference next month, which has been rescheduled to 11 and 12 May after an ‘unfortunate oversight’ meant the event would have clashed with Eid al-Fitr.

Proposed by Cambridgeshire LMC, one motion says the BMA’s GP Committee should explore how ‘separately-negotiated’ NHS and non-NHS provision of GP services could be ‘facilitated’.

The motion proposes: ‘That conference calls upon GPDF to commission and fund research into the creation of an options paper for GPC UK to review prior to April 2022 that will investigate… the benefits / risks options and costs associated with the provision of UK general practice outside of the GMS / PMS / APMS contract model.’

It calls for discussion as to how independent contractors who ‘wish to become employed GPs’ can do so ‘with regard to their estates and premises’, as well as modelling around the long-term impacts of ‘aligned’ contracts with trusts or other NHS providers. 

Another motion to be debated at the conference, proposed by Kirklees LMC, says the Carr Hill formula is ‘no longer fit for purpose’ and ‘disadvantages’ practices in the most deprived areas.

It calls for ‘additional funding to specifically mitigate against the increased healthcare risks demands and needs of deprived communities’.

Other motions include a call for the BMA to lobby the RCGP and Health Education England (HEE) to implement 15-minute consultation times as a ‘standard’ for face-to-face appointments in general practice, as well as for the BMA to ‘proactively negotiate’ a new Covid vaccination DES at practice level.

Waltham Forest LMC asks that the conference ‘requires GPC to proactively negotiate with NHS / DHSC a Direct Enhanced Service so that if an annual Covid-19 vaccination programme is required it will be contracted with and delivered by individual general practices.’

It comes as the Government has secured 60 million additional doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for delivery in its autumn booster programme.

And GP appointment figures published today have shown that GPs saw more patients in March than in any other month since records began, with the BMA saying this validates GP warnings that they are busier than ever.

Motions in full

CAMBRIDGESHIRE: That conference calls upon GPDF to commission and fund research into the creation of an options paper for GPC UK to review prior to April 2022 that will investigate:

(i) the benefits / risks options and costs associated with the provision of UK general practice outside of the GMS / PMS / APMS contract model

 (ii) how those independent contractors who wish to become employed GPs may be facilitated to do so with regard to their estates and premises across a number of examples on a local, national or UK basis

(iii) modelling around the longer term consequences of risks/benefits to practices of having aligned contracts with staff and / or premises with other NHS providers / trusts

(iv) how the future of a separately negotiated model around NHS and non NHS provision of general medical services could be facilitated.

KIRKLEES: That conference believes that additional funding should be made available to meet the extra needs of deprived communities and that:

(i) the Carr Hill formula is no longer fit for purpose

(ii) the impact of the Carr Hill formula on weighted capitation disadvantages practices serving the areas with the highest levels of deprivation

(iii) seeks additional funding to specifically mitigate against the increased healthcare risks demands and needs of deprived communities.

GP TRAINEES COMMITTEE: That conference notes RCGP and BMA policy aiming for 15 minute appointments for standard face-to-face GP consultations, as well as the large disparity in consulting times GP trainees are expected to undertake consultations during their training. We call on BMA to lobby RCGP, HEE and other key stakeholders to:

(i) develop a clear strategy to implement and achieve a standard 15 minute consultation time for face-to-face consultations in general practice

(ii) develop guidance for GP trainees and GP trainers to allow trainees to have clear minimum expectations in consultation lengths throughout the different stages of their GP training

(iii) ensure any change to the standard GP consultation are reflected in the expectations and marking criteria of MRCGP examinations

WALTHAM FOREST: That conference, with regard to the COVID-19 vaccination programme:

(i) applauds the efforts of GPs and their teams who are the reason why the UK programme has been successful in rapidly vaccinating our population including those who are most vulnerable

(ii) believes that we need to start planning for an annual COVID-19 vaccination programme

(iii) requires GPC to proactively negotiate with NHS / DHSC a Direct Enhanced Service so that if an annual COVID-19 vaccination programme is required it will be contracted with and delivered by individual general practices.

Source: BMA