Department of Health announces GP contract changes for 1 April 2013
The Department of Health has confirmed changes to the GP contract in England to come into force on 1 April 2013.
The Government's proposals will see general practice facing new targets and additional workload responsibilities in a number of clinical areas. At the same time, changes will be made to how resources are allocated, including higher targets for GPs to reach before they can receive additional funding through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) and reductions in the central funding some practices receive.
GPs are concerned that the changes will undermine how patient services are delivered if more valuable clinical time is spent on non-clinical activities.
Earlier this year, thousands of GPs had expressed concerns about the proposals in response to a BMA survey. In February the General Practitioners Committee sent the survey results and other evidence to the Government’s consultation on the changes. It warned then that the proposals risked putting targets before patients and destabilising local patient services.
The changes:
Read what we said on the day the changes were confirmed
Read the Government's consultation response which outlines the imposed changes
Read our overview on what the imposed changes to the GP contract in England will mean
Download the letter from Richard Armstrong, Head of Primary Medical Care, Commissioning Development Directorate outlining the proposed changes (PDF)