Source: NHS Primary Care Bulletin 1.8.24
Steps to better support general practice
Today, the Secretary of State, Wes Streeting, has written to GPs outlining two important next steps to better support general practice.
Government is accepting and funding in full the Pay Review Body for Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) pay recommendations, an above inflation 6% increase for GPs and their teams.
The GP contract will be amended to uplift the pay elements of the contract by a further 4%, in addition to the 2% already included in contract funding, which will be backdated to April 2024. This is the first real-term increase for years, and NHS England and DHSC will work to ensure this funding gets to practices as soon as possible.
In addition, in response to calls from professional groups to add other staff to the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS), government has agreed to add GPs to ARRS, with additional funding. This is an emergency measure that will be targeted at recently qualified GPs to address current challenges around recruitment.
This measure does not impact existing ARRS staff because recruitment of GPs will use ring-fenced funding – and continuing to build on the success of multi-disciplinary teams is vital to support delivery of proactive care. Some nurses are already within the scheme, but it is recognised other nurses are not included and therefore this will be reviewed.
These two measures are important steps in making general practice more sustainable and NHS England and DHSC will now work together with GPs and general practices to find longer term solutions to address the challenges the sector faces.
Further information about the contractual changes following the announcements on DDRB and ARRS will be sent to practices shortly.
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