Dear colleagues
The Budget NI Blow
BMA UK Council met on Wednesday and emergency business included the Chair of Council, Professor Phil Banfield committing total support to our branch of practice, echoed in a formal statement subsequently shared across social media. Yesterday, GPC England met where we discussed the implications of the cost pressures, strategy for discussions with the heart of Government ahead of the national conference of LMCs next Friday 22 November, and first-hand experience of the personal impact on GP elected members.
Early data from our BMA online calculator confidential submissions suggests cost pressures potentially running into the hundreds of thousands of pounds for GP contractors – whose practices may have to close or reduce staff and services as a result. The BMA is putting pressure on the Government to guarantee these cost pressures be fully resourced, and has launched a calculator to estimate the impact on your practice. Please sit down and login with your practice manager and click submit to share your figures anonymously to help us build a picture of the reality facing practices.
We have created a calculator to help you estimate the impact from April 2025 of these increases to employer National Insurance contributions and the national minimum/living wage on general practice in England.
As well as ongoing discussions with the DHSC, we wrote to the Treasury in the immediate aftermath of the Autumn Statement and there have been ongoing questions put in the House of Commons, supported by BMA members using the MP letter tool to keep the pressure up on this evolving crisis.
Help us to continue to put pressure on the Government by writing to your local MP using our online tool
I spoke to the Medics’ Money podcast about pressures facing GPs and why the Budget was so devastating for the profession. The podcast covers:
· The impact of the National Insurance employer contributions increase
· Why and how GPs can take part in collective action
· Ongoing problems GPs face with PCSE processing pension records
· The postcode lottery of LES funding
Read more here: www.bma.org.uk/BudgetNIblow
Collective action
Thank you to every practice now taking part in our collective action to protect our patients and practices. These actionshave already, and will continue to make a difference: they are safe, sustainable, and do not breach your contract. This is turning up the pressure on the Government to do the right thing for patients and general practice. We are the bedrock of the NHS, but our services have been driven to near collapse.
We need you to take action to protect our patients and protect our practices.
We are producing more guidance around individual collective actions to support those practices in undertaking specific actions. This week we are focusing on Advice and Guidance.
This two-minute video shows GPC England’s views on this specific collective action. Dr Clare Bannon discusses how advice and guidance has been used when a referral would have been appropriate and that this has increased both work and risk for GPs. Using advice and guidance is not a contractual obligation, so as part of collective action, her practice is pushing back making it clear in referral letters that a patient should be provided with a consultation.
The BMA’s GP campaign webpage has more information about all of the actions. Please also refer to our Safe Working Guidance Handbook and other useful links such as the guidance for GP collective action for sessional GPs and GP registrars, background to the 2024/25 contract changes, waiting room/website videos and infographics that can be downloaded and displayed in practices. Campaign materials such as patient leaflets, lanyards, badges, window stickers and Beanie hats continue to be available from the BMA rep Hub.
We want GPs to feel safe and empowered to take action that protects their patients and their practices.
November action tracker
The November collective action tracker survey opened on Monday 11 November and will close at 5pm on Sunday 17November. Is your practice taking part in collective action? We want to hear from you! If you are a GP partner or a practice manager, please fill in this survey. Specific data will not be shared outside of the BMA and no identifiable data will be created as a result of this survey.
The BMA is producing more guidance around individual collective actions to support those practices in undertaking specific actions. Please refer to our refreshed Safe Working Guidance Handbook and to the BMA’s GP campaign webpage for more information. We appreciate your participation in collective action.
Data access and usage bill
A government bill presented to parliament is having its first debate on 19 November in the House of Lords – the legislation proposes measures to replace the ICO and amend the existing regulatory framework in several significant ways. It also includes provisions that will directly impact the NHS and primary and care including the establishment of a new regulatory framework to mandate NHS IT System suppliers to develop software that they sell to the NHS in line with technical information standards set by the NHS – something the BMA has long-called for, a fact that the government has acknowledged in the bill’s impact assessment. The BMA has briefed members of the House of Lords on the issues above as well as restating the case for adequate resourcing of data access requests made to GPs on behalf of patients.
GPC England Chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer has co-authored an editorial in this week’s BMJ alongside Jess Morley and Cori Crider calling for transparency around digital transformation: https://www.bmj.com/content/387/bmj.q2494
NHS England 10 Year Health Plan
DHSC and NHS England have launched a consultation – Change NHS – to help inform the development of a new 10 Year Health Plan. The consultation is looking for ideas on how the NHS can improve, as well as views on these three proposed ‘shifts’; moving more care from hospitals into the community; going from analogue to digital; and moving toward prevention and away from sickness.
The BMA is developing its response to the consultation, but individual GPs and practice managers can also respond to a separate survey on the Change NHS website: https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/
Focus on DDRB pay award
As part of our Guidance on the imposed 2024/25 GP contract, we have also published a Focus on document on the 6% DDRB pay award and how it is applied to the national practice contract baseline funding (‘Global Sum’) and allocated to practices.
General Practice Annual Electronic Self-Declaration (eDEC)
The electronic practice self-declaration (eDEC) is a mandatory collection which all GP practices in England must complete every year. The revised version was published on 11 October – read more here.
LMC England Conference 2024
The Agenda for the 2024 LMC England Conference in Friends House, London which takes place on 22 November, has been published. For more information see here. Please send any queries to info.lmcconference@bma.org.uk
Bringing back the family doctor: a roundtable discussion event
GPC England and the BMA Patient Liaison Group are inviting leading patient organisations to attend a roundtable meeting at BMA House on 28 November to discuss the recently published 'Patients First’ vision for general practice. GPCE are keen that this discussion will open up further opportunities for joint working as well as develop understanding of the patient perspective in response to:
· What immediate actions can be taken to meet patient needs without requiring additional funding
· Priorities for the forthcoming NHS 10-year plan
· What is needed in the short term for 2025/26 to stabilise GP services for patients
· How a new GP contract within this Parliament could ensure patients receive the care they need
Do you look after asylum seekers or refugees?
It is well-evidenced that this group of patients continue to face significant barriers accessing appropriate and timely healthcare. We’ve launched a survey to capture your experiences, so the BMA can update its Refugee and Asylum Patient Health Toolkit and influence government policy to better support you in enhancing healthcare services for asylum seekers and refugees. Share your views and complete this ten-minute survey by 14 December 2024.
LMC Secretaries Conference - 7 February 2025
The LMC secretaries conference will be taking place on Friday 7 February at BMA House, London. If you are interested in attending please ensure you register to attend the event by Friday 24 January 2025. Each person attending the conference must register by completing a registration form regardless of how they are planning to attend i.e. first, second or observer. An online application form for nominations is available here, and representatives will have to indicate if they are first or second place nominations on the online form. Places will be confirmed via email and the closing date is 24 January 2025.Please contact the GPC office at info.lmcconference@bma.org.uk with any queries you have about the LMC Secretaries Conference or David Wood (david.wood@attend.org.uk), about travel and subsistence.
UK LMC Conference - 8 and 9 May 2025 - Save the date
The UK LMC Conference 2025 will be held on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 May 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. The event will be taking place at the SEC Centre, Scottish Event Campus, Glasgow, G3 8YW.The Agenda Committee continues to work on the Reforms to Conference mandated at Newport in 2024, and aims to bring further updates and progress in 2025, including substantive changes to Standing Orders to ratify the changes necessary to make the UK Conference truly serve all four nations.
GPC Guidance, media and contacts
- The BMA’s GP campaign webpage has information about all of the actions.
- Read our Safe Working Guidance Handbook
- Guidance for GP collective action for Sessional GPs and GP registrars
- Downloadable waiting room/website videos and infographics for practices.
Campaign materials such as patient leaflets, lanyards, badges, window stickers and Beanie hats available from the BMA rep Hub
Read more about the work of GPC England and practical guidance for GP practices
See the latest update on X @BMA_GP and read about BMA in the media
Contact us: info.lmcqueries@bma.org.uk
Read the latest GPCE bulletin:
Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer
GPC England chair
Email: info.lmcqueries@bma.org.uk (for LMC queries)
Email: info.gpc@bma.org.uk (for GPs and practices)
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