BMA rejects GP contract unilaterally imposed by Government

The BMA’s GP committee has voted in favour of rejecting the 2026/27 contract imposed by the Government, the union has announced.

From 4 March to 25 March, GPC England will hold a referendum of GPs and GP registrars across England on the changes imposed from 1 April, it added.

GPC England will ask its members if they accept the Government’s changes or if they want them to ‘return to direct negotiations’ with BMA leaders to ‘develop a new practice contract’.

The 2026/27 contract changes were revealed earlier this week by the Government following a consultation with various stakeholders rather than a negotiation with the GPC.

GPC England chair Dr Katie Bramall said unless the Government return to the negotiating table and ‘enter into serious one-to-one negotiations’ over a new contract with GPCE to ‘restore the viability of partnerships and practices’, deliver safe working practices for patients and ‘fair remuneration’ for all GPs, the profession ‘will be left with no alternative but to escalate to action’.

Among other changes, the next GP contract will be amended to ‘explicitly’ require practices to deal with ‘clinically urgent’ patients on the same day.

Dr Bramall said: ‘The “open-floodgates” strategy which has been drowning general practice since October is not going away – the Government is doubling down and turning general practice into a digital-first, patients-last, unsafe primary care model where the result is a far poorer patient experience. 

‘General practice is critically endangered, facing extinction: patient list sizes compared with GP numbers are still dangerously high; continuity of patient care is rapidly declining; and we have lost over 6,000 (around 28%) of the GP partners who actually run practices since 2015.’

She added that the Government must work with the BMA to ‘bring general practice back from the brink of extinction’.

Dr Bramall said: ‘This contract will not do that. No more empty words. No more broken promises – it’s time for action. 

‘GPs are hardworking, dedicated professionals, but we are not magicians. We can’t bend the rules of physics and provide unlimited same-day urgent care as well as unlimited planned and routine care, all whilst hospital trusts are enabled to reject our referrals so that we are trying to manage the impossible and unsafe.

‘Premises are outdated and crumbling, demand is spiralling out of control without the workforce or resource to support it, and despite Government rhetoric we are drowning in bureaucracy.

‘GPs are in despair, uncertain how on Earth they can achieve the Government’s unrealistic expectations and fear this contract will drive away more experienced GPs increasing the risk of further practice closures.’

GPC England was consulted on the contract changes alongside the RCGP, NAPC, Healthwatch England, National Voices, IGPM and the NHS Confederation.

Pulse revealed that the BMA had lost its sole negotiating role for the GP contract and that distrust was the Government’s reason for overhauling the GP contract process from a negotiation with the GPC to a consultation where the BMA is just one of the stakeholders.

Primary care minister Stephen Kinnock said: ‘We’re fixing the front door of the NHS  – and the public is noticing. Satisfaction with general practice is on the rise after a decade of decline – with today’s ONS survey today showing record levels of approval with ease of access – 77% for January 2026 up from 61% in July 2024.”

‘This progress is the result of the extra investment and modernisation this government has introduced, cutting red tape so GPs spend more time caring for patients, investing £100 million in expanding GP practices, and recruiting 2,000 more GPs.

‘To help end the 8am scramble, we have rolled out game-changing online access across the country – with a record 9.2 million online requests submitted in January 2026.

‘We’re not resting on our laurels. Our £500 million contract uplift agreed this week goes even further, funding for around an extra 1,600 GPs, and guarantee same day appointments for patients with urgent needs. We know there is more to do but general practice is firmly on the road to recovery.’

Read all of our coverage of the 2026/27 contract here.