Even though one in three GP practices scrapped an unfunded service over the last year, many practices are continuing to provide care that would ordinarily cost millions of pounds a year for nothing, according to a recent poll.

The survey, conducted by GP Online, found that many GPs are heeding British Medical Association (BMA) advice and cracking down on non-core services, as workload and funding pressure reach intolerable levels.

In addition, it is likely that more practices will scrap unfunded work, as 50 per cent of respondents stated that their practices will consider dropping services in the next 12 months and only 17 per cent ruled this out altogether.

However, thousands of practices across the UK are still providing non-core services for no remuneration. In fact, almost 60 per cent of those polled reported that their practice currently provides some non-core services unfunded, which amounts to millions of pounds a year free.

Most GPs said they provided services such as ECG recording, spirometry and post-operation suture removal for no additional payment, with only 15 per cent saying they did not provide any non-core services free. However, this may be because many GPs are not aware they could get additional funding for doing so.

The General Practitioners’ Committee (GPC) has urged practices to start dropping unfunded work so that they can better handle unmanageable workloads, with a spokesman for the body saying that inappropriate, unfunded and excessive work must stop in the name of patient safety.

He added that no patient should suffer from a GP not being there for them because the doctor is diverted by doing work outside their contract. However, GPs themselves say they would find it difficult to stop providing services at their own expense, as they fear that if they did not offer them, no one would.