{"id":2058,"date":"2026-02-24T16:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/?p=2058"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:49:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T13:49:00","slug":"new-gp-contract-falls-short-of-bringing-back-the-family-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/new-gp-contract-falls-short-of-bringing-back-the-family-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"New GP contract falls\u00a0 short of \u2018bringing back the family doctor\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DAUK welcomed a funding increase as part of the 2026\/27 contract, but warned it was not the level of investment needed to protect the future of general practice and improve patient care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Steve Taylor, GP co-lead for the Doctors\u2019 Association UK (DAUK), said the \u00a3485 million announced by the Government was actually worth around \u00a385 million when adjusted for inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the contract fell short of what was required to meet the Labour Government\u2019s manifesto pledge to &#8216;bring back the family doctor\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And he added that there was an \u2018incredibly disappointing\u2019 lack of vision for the future of general practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Taylor said: &#8220;We welcome any increase in GP funding, but this is not bold enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The new GP contract merely tinkers around the edges of what is needed to genuinely bring back the family doctor, which was Labour\u2019s manifesto pledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The funding increase for core general practice is only \u00a385m, when adjusted for inflation, and will not go very far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The lack of genuine core funding, combined with a lack of vision for what can be achieved, is incredibly disappointing given the Labour Government is nearly two years into its tenure.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Taylor highlighted DAUK\u2019s <em><a href=\"https:\/\/dauk.org\/campaigns\/your-gp-here-for-you\/\">Your GP, here for you<\/a> <\/em>campaign, which calls for a GP contract that puts patients at the heart of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DAUK&#8217;s contract is designed to strengthen continuity, improve access, and ensure GP services are properly funded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DAUK\u2019s proposals are based on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/publications.parliament.uk\/pa\/cm5803\/cmselect\/cmhealth\/113\/summary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The future of general practice<\/a>, the 2022 Health and Social Care Committee report produced with cross-party support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Key recommendations&nbsp;are around continuity of care and removal of the tick-box&nbsp;top-down management of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Delivering this vision will require the Government to increase core GP funding by \u00a340 per patient per year \u2013 less than \u00a31 a week \u2013 to restore funding to the real-terms level of 2016.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Taylor said: \u201cDAUK has proposed a genuine alternative, \u2018Your GP, here for you\u2019, which puts patients first, frees GPs from bureaucratic barriers and encourages improvement in continuity of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe next steps must include these otherwise this will see the end of general practice, patients will suffer, and the health of the nation will deteriorate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are a non-profit campaigning and lobbying organisation led by frontline doctors, for frontline doctors. We are volunteers and our collective aim is to give frontline workers a voice to be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please support our work by contributing to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-the-work-of-the-doctors-association-uk-dauk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">our crowd funder<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DAUK welcomed a funding increase as part of the 2026\/27 contract, but warned it was not the level of investment needed to protect the future&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":1590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[61,591,23],"class_list":["post-2058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-practice","tag-general-practice","tag-gp-contract","tag-gp-crisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2058"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2119,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions\/2119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}