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GPs to be paid £200k incentives to offer partnerships
21 Oct 09
Exclusive: Practices are to be offered hundreds of thousands of pounds each to take on partners under a pioneering incentive scheme, Pulse can reveal.
NHS South-West Essex has become the first PCT in the country to offer incentives to practices to create partnerships, in a scheme that has been hailed by the GPC as a potential model for the rest of the UK.
Pulse revealed last month that negotiators were discussing how LES payments could be offered by PCTs to encourage creation of partnerships, in an attempt to avert a split in the profession.
The new plan to plough millions of pounds into the promotion of partnerships is directly in line with the central demand of Pulse’s One Voice campaign, which has called for incentives to make partnerships more financially attractive to practices.
The scheme has been designed to attract ‘new blood’ and address a sudden recruitment crisis in general practice, after employment consultants warned salaried GPs had become so disillusioned they were refusing to apply for non-principal positions.
Practices will be offered as much as £225,000 to offer a GP a formal partnership agreement – which will have to meet certain minimum standards – along with hitting targets to improve access and performance.
GMS practices will be offered £80,000 in year one, £80,000 in year two and £60,000 over years three and four, and must transfer to a PMS or APMS contract.
PMS practices will also be offered incentives, although funding will be ‘offset by any growth monies’ they receive.
Practices will also be offered up to £5,000 for the costs of drawing up a partnership agreement and advertising the post.
The scheme in South-West Essex aims to recruit 35 additional full-time-equivalent partners to the area, targeting single-handed practices and those where GPs are considering retirement.
A spokesperson from the PCT said it was in discussions with four practices to avert an impending GP shortage and tempt ‘young, innovative GPs’ into the area: ‘The Succession Planning Scheme will see us fund practices to employ an additional partner, pump-priming this over a number of years.
‘It will enable smaller practices to develop into larger surgeries offering more GPs,’ the spokesperson added.
Dr Brian Balmer, chief executive of Essex LMCs and a GPC member, said the scheme was ‘novel’ and could be used as a model elsewhere in the UK.
‘I am totally behind this. I give credit to the PCT, but I’ve been nagging it for a very long time. It has had the balls to do it.'
‘If we don’t promote partnerships, we’re not going to keep general practice as we want it, or do what the DH wants, which is to expand primary care.’
Dr Vicky Weeks, chair of the GPC’s sessional GPs subcommittee, said the scheme was ‘a very good idea’ and one of a number of options for encouraging partnerships. ‘We are looking at the whole issue of workforce planning and are working on various models,’ she said.
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Readers' comments
Our Practice in SW Essex has taken on 2 new partners in the last 2 years. This has reduced our income but we felt it was the right thing to do. Other practices have taken on salaried assistants and maintained or increased their personal incomes and are now being offered more gold to take on partners - so it's win/win for them whilst we are the poor fools! Expensive principles! Vic Bradbury
LMC/GPC member thinks this is a good idea!? This looks like another bribe to get practices changing from a national (GMS)contract to a local (PMS) contract, further undermining the relevance of the GPC as a national negotiating body. Some people just don't get it........
I think this can become a prelude to a level playing field between small practices with growing list, especially GMS practices who aspire to develop into large practices and the already large practicesaho are traditionally offered large resources.
sounds very attractive, we just replced 2 retired partners and about to replace a third one with a full parity partner in vey near future.
Beware of PMS - it is certainly financially attractive in the short term, but you will sell yourselves to the mercy of your local PCT in the long term. Good luck.
This is ludicrous. Where is the extra money coming from? This scheme is not going to solve the problem at all or will make very little difference to the thousands of disenfranchised GPs throughout the country while wasting more precious resources at a time of financial hardship. By rewarding practices for taking on partners the GPC is sending entirely the wrong message and missing out the whole point. The profession has to be one because all have the same qualifications to practice and so all those who practice should receive the same treatment and financial incentives for the same amount of work. Anything less than that smacks of greed and selfishness and will eventually break the profession. In the short term, however, many chaps will do very well indeed.
What the incentive ignores is that some practices may have a salaried GP to cover more workload rather than due to financial reasons.
I think it's good - you get 200k reward but will you share the reward once you are a partner in that surgery? Or will it go the other partners. Still it doesn't matter as long as we get partnership job. PCT has to waste their money somewhere. NICE said we are not suppose to prescribe Omega-3 to our patients, but some PCTs are prescribing Omega-3 to all pregnant ladies!!!! So use the money, work hard, look after yourself and serve your country by treating everybody equally. Long live uk gps.
Something about Greeks bearing gifts comes to mind as the classical response to the poisoned chalice - PMS + compulsory commissioning and real budgets! How much will the average family be paying for Denplan + GPplan?