Dr Amanda Doyle: 'Extensive talks were held to find a fair GP contract deal'

NHS England’s national director for primary care Dr Amanda Doyle hails the first negotiated – rather than imposed – GP contract deal in years.

This is the first time in four years that the GP contract has been accepted as proposed and I hope it will be seen as positive for practices, primary care networks and patients when introduced in April.

Improving patients’ access to general practice is one of the NHS’s top priorities and this contract sets out the next steps to put the family doctor at the heart of the shift to a neighbourhood health service.

Extensive talks were held over months with the BMA GP England committee (GPCE) to find a fair deal that supported GPs while helping to achieve the government’s commitment to rebuild the NHS.

The new contract will build on the work GP teams are already doing to reform GP services, helping to ease workloads for GPs, and funded by an £889m rise in 2025/6, which equates to a 7.2% cash growth on the contract funding envelope – the biggest increase in investment into general practice in over a decade with funding growing at a faster rate than NHS funding as a whole.

NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care have listened to feedback and introduced new freedoms for GP teams to use additional roles reimbursement funding allowing more GPs to be hired, with practice nurses also now included.

In 2025/26 the scheme will increase in flexibility to support Primary Care Networks (PCNs) to respond to their local workforce requirements. The two existing funding pots (for non-GP staff and GPs) will be combined, with PCNs being able to claim reimbursement from this single larger pot for any patient facing roles, including GPs and practice nurses, with no restrictions on the numbers or type of role.

In response to feedback from the profession and to support the recruitment of GPs, the salary element of the maximum reimbursement amount that PCNs can claim for GPs will be increased from £73,113 in 2024/25 to £82,418.

We will streamline the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), with a much smaller number of targets and a much greater incentive focused on targeting cardiovascular disease prevention targets – improving clinical outcomes which help avoid premature and avoidable cardiovascular mortality.

The £298m funding freed by reducing targets will be used to invest £100m in the global sum, routine childhood vaccinations and an increase to locum reimbursement rates.

The remaining £198m will be targeted towards cardiovascular disease prevention to support the Government’s ambition to reduce premature mortality from heart disease or stroke by a quarter within a decade.

In addition to the £889m increase in investment, practices will also have the opportunity to take part in a new enhanced service for advice and guidance, which is worth up to £80m.

This enhanced service supports the Government’s commitment to move more care from secondary care into community settings and will ensure patients receive care in the right place at the right time via the use of specialist advice and guidance, while also supporting elective recovery – but importantly recognises the time and capacity needed in general practice to give patients specialist advice more quickly than waiting for an out-patient appointment.

There will also be a greater openness with the public, letting patients know what they can expect from practices with the introduction of an online patient charter.

From 1 October 2025, practices will be required to keep their online consultation tool open during core hours for non-urgent appointment requests, medication queries and admin requests as well as ensuring equitable access however a patient contacts their practice.

Practices will be able to flag on websites and online systems that where a patient thinks they need to be seen urgently they should always phone to speak to someone. We’ll make this clear in the Patient Charter as well.

Finally, I would like to thank GPs and their teams for all their hard work and dedication because the contribution of general practice is vital to the NHS and continues to be highly valued and appreciated.

It also makes general practice more sustainable as it supports the Government’s shift of care closer to where people live, keeping the relationship with the GP central to the way we deliver healthcare in this country for a long time to come.

Dr Amanda Doyle is NHS England’s national director for primary care and community services