GP contract: £2.8bn deal gives English practices core funding boost for five years

General practices in England will be able to give all staff a 2% pay uplift this year, after a landmark £2.8bn (€3.2bn; $3.7bn) five year contract deal was agreed by the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee and NHS England.

The deal, described as the most significant change to the GP contract since 2004, will increase core practice funding by almost £1bn over the next five years. This will be supplemented by an extra £1.8bn over the same five years to support primary care networks, in which practices will work together to provide care to 30 000 to 50 000 patients across a wider geographic area.

The agreement will provide upfront investment of £405m this year, delivered through a combination of a 1.4% increase to core funding and a new network contract (delivered through a directed enhanced service (DES)) that will operate alongside practices’ standard contracts.

It also delivers a state backed indemnity scheme for all GPs. This means that, from April 2019, GPs (including those who work out of hours) and practice staff will no longer have to personally fund clinical …