According to recent research, the Government’s plan to have GP practices open seven days a week could cost more than £1bn a year, even though GPs have only been promised a one-off payment of £150m for the scheme. Continue reading →

A new survey has found that more GPs than not would support a move for their practice funding to be based on the number of consultations they carry our rather than on their number of registered patients. Continue reading →

Hot on the heels of a personal pledge by the Chief Executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, to investigate the causes of soaring medical indemnity costs, a private firm has announced it has signed up two out-of-hours providers and a GP federation. Continue reading →

NHS England has revealed that GPs will be offered ‘simple and attractive’ conditions to encourage them away from the national contract and join the new models of care that are being tested across the country. Continue reading →

The General Practitioners’ Committee (GPC) has called on NHS England to review its payments for the new national pharmacy flu immunisation scheme, as under the current system, pharmacists could end up being paid more than GPs to administer the flu jab. Continue reading →

According to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the British Medical Association (BMA) is “out of touch” with GPs’ wants and needs, as he says he has yet to meet a doctor who doesn’t want seven day working. Continue reading →

According to a recent report, GPs have saved the NHS around £7bn in the last 40 years by increasing generic prescribing rates, which have gone up by 20 per cent since 1976. However, it adds that costs are still being increased through over-diagnosing and inappropriate prescribing. Continue reading →

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced a review by NHS England that will reduce the amount of bureaucracy faced by GPs, as well as the development of a number of tools that will help to reduce the “mountain” of inappropriate workload they are currently burdened with. Continue reading →

GPs in England have been offered a “new deal” by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt – as long as they sign up to seven-day opening of surgeries. Proposals for the package, which will provide help for under-pressure services, include the recruitment of 5,000 new GPs and another 5,000 support staff, including practice nurses. Continue reading →

With plans for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to work towards covering the cost of its own regulation ‘over a reasonable period of time’, GP practices fear that their own fees to the regulator could double. Continue reading →