We have renewed our campaign call for the Government to increase general practice funding by at least an extra £40 per patient per year.
Dr Steve Taylor, GP co-lead for the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), made the call – which is central to our drive to restore general practice to the heart of the NHS – in an article in GP Online.
The campaign – Your GP, here for you – is calling for a new GP contract that puts patients at the centre of care.
Your GP, here for you
Currently, general practice receives just 5.6% of the total NHS budget, despite delivering around 31 million appointments a month.
Your GP, here for you urges the Government to increase core GP funding by £40 per patient per year, less than £1 per week. This will restore funding to the real-terms level of 2016.
Dr Taylor renewed the campaign call as he responded to comments by Health Minister Karin Smyth.
Ms Smyth had said that GP services were under pressure because they had lost out on NHS funding to hospitals.
GP funding
Dr Taylor told GP Online it was ‘vital’ funding was increased for GP practices if Government proposals to move more care out of hospitals and into the community were to be met.
He said: “Sadly [Labour] has just put a sticking plaster over the wound when substantial investment is needed. They will quote £1bn investment but ignore staff costs, national insurance and inflation. They will exaggerate the number of GPs added but they need to invest in practices.
“This needs to be at least [an extra] £40 per patient per year to restore funding to 2015 levels in real terms.”
Read the article and Dr Taylor’s comments in full at GP Online.
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