According to a report published last week by the NHS Alliance, the Government should increase primary care funding to 10 per cent of the total NHS budget from the estimated 7.5 per cent share it currently has.

The report, Think Big, Act Now: Creating a Community of Care, says that additional funding and support must be given to GPs if primary care is to successfully develop ‘at scale’.

The Alliance, which is made up of clinicians, managers and patients, is also calling for the introduction of a ‘General Practice Development Fund’, which would offer funding above the 10 per cent share of the total NHS budget it recommends, to be administered by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and used to ‘kick-start’ the process of transformation, which they say will involve GP practices working together to survive.

According to the report, the general practice share of the NHS budget has fallen from 10 per cent to 7.5 per cent since 2005/06, despite its estimate that approximately 80 per cent of all patient contact with health services in the UK involves primary care.

The Alliance insists that the GP share needs to return to its previous level within the next three years, during which time a new financial model can be developed which works across primary and secondary care.

A spokesman for the Alliance also recommends a ‘fundamental shift in thinking’, which would entail GPs in different practices working together, maybe as co-operatives or integrated care associations.

He added that if these changes were implemented, they would bring about an increase in morale in a professional that has suffered enormously through cuts and overwork.