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GP leaders to vote on support for fully salaried GP profession

The GPC could negotiate a new contract with Government under which GPs give up their independent contractor status and all go salaried, LMCs have suggested.

A motion to be presented by Oxfordshire LMC at the emergency LMC Conference at the end of the month suggests that because ‘many younger GPs currently prefer to be salaried rather than partners’, the GPC should look at ‘future contractual models’ which ‘explore all options including movement away from independent contractor status’.

Although the Oxfordshire LMC motion is the only one scheduled for debate, several LMCs suggested similar motions to the agenda committee.

This included Mid Mersey LMC, which proposed a motion saying ‘that the days of independent contractors delivering safe and sustainable general practice are coming to an end and calls upon the GPC to actively support the development of a salaried GP service’.

LMCs have voted on the topic before but the motion to move to a fully salaried service has always been voted down.

A Pulse survey of over 600 GPs last autumn found that support for a fully salaried model of general practice is growing, with 26% now in favour. However just over half, 54%, remained opposed. 

The motion follows similar calls by former RCGP chair Professor Clare Gerada and NHS England in London, while NHS Hull CCG has also looked into plans for developing a fully salaried model – which it later discarded,

GPs in Scotland are already moving ‘as close as possible’ to a salaried service as part of the devolved health economy’s new contract model.

The motion in full

OXFORDSHIRE: That conference believes that many younger GPs currently prefer to be salaried rather than partners, and that in looking at future contractual models, the GPC Executive Team should explore all options including movement away from independent contractor status.