Negotiations between the General Practitioners’ Committee (GPC) and the Government have resulted in a one per cent pay uplift for GP practices and a 3.2 per cent total funding uplift, of which 2.2 per cent is to meet the rising expenses facing practices.

The agreement also includes increased investment of £220m into the 2016/17 contract in England and £15m that will cover the considerable increase in Care Quality Commission (CQC) fees, which could equate to a rise of £15,000 for some practices.

The agreed contract will also signal the end to the controversial dementia Direct Enhanced Services (DES), which saw practices being paid to screen for memory problems, with the resources transferred into core contractual funding.

In addition, the GPC said it had reached what it calls a joint commitment with the Government to explore the end of the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) and to look at ending the avoiding unplanned admissions DES, although this will continue in 2016/17.

According to the GPC, the Government has also committed to ’a national strategy to reduce bureaucracy and manage demand on GP services’, and a 28 per cent increase to the item of service fees for vaccinations and immunisations from £7.64 to £9.80.

Under the terms of the deal GPs will be required to record data on the availability of evening and weekend opening for routine appointments until 2020/21and will have to record annually the number of instances where a practice pays a locum more than an indicative maximum rate, as set out by NHS England.

A spokesman for the GPC said that the limited changes in the contract provide some immediate financial support which, for the first time in years, recognises the expenses being incurred by practices and the resources needed to deliver a pay uplift rather than a pay cut.