NHS England has told GP practices bidding for premises upgrades that they must include the extent to which the money would be spent on increasing patient contact time and how it would help reduce emergencies for the over 75s.

The letter inviting bids from NHS England included a template, which asks for information such as details of the existing premises and how patients have been involved in drawing up the plans for the upgrades to date.

The bid invitation for the first £250m tranche of the money to be invested in the 2015/16 tax year stresses that the improvement of elderly care is essential in supporting the reduction of hospital admissions.

It also reiterated that this first tranche of funding ‘will predominantly accelerate schemes which are in the pipeline, bringing benefits to patients more quickly’. The deadline for bids is 16 February.

According to the letter, GP practices will need to set out how the funding received by practices will give them the capacity to do more, provide value for money and improve access and services for the frail and elderly.

NHS England said that the new funding, alongside its incremental premises programme, will accelerate investment in increasing infrastructure, accelerate better use of technology and in the short term, will be used to address immediate capacity and access issues, as well as lay the foundations for more integrated care to be delivered in community settings.

Meanwhile, practices wishing to apply for funding to pilot new models, such as the multi-speciality community provider (MCP) option described in NHS England’s Five-Year Plan, should come forward by 2 February.