GP leaders have voted against limiting the number of patients a practice can have on their list to 1,500 per full-time equivalent GP.
The motion, debated at the English LMCs Conference in London today, had also called for a reduction in core hours to 8am to 6pm, but this was also voted down.
In an opinion piece for Pulse, Dr Mary McCarthy – from Shropshire LMC, who proposed the motion – said that such a recommendation would need to protect practice funding.
Motion in full
AGENDA COMMITTEE TO BE PROPOSED BY SHROPSHIRE: That conference, mindful of the clinical risks of excessive workload, believes that:
(i) an assessment of a GP’s commitment should be based on total hours worked rather than sessions – PASSED AS REFERENCE
(ii) the core contracted hours should be reduced to 08.00 hours – 18.00 hours – LOST
(iii) a limit of 1500 patients per WTE GP should be set as standard. – LOST
Source: BMA
