GP leaders from around England will be voting on a motion calling for the end to local enhanced services (LESs) when they meet in November.
The annual England LMC conference agenda includes a motion which says that conference ‘demands that general practice funding is consolidated into the GMS payment’.
It calls for: ‘the cessation of all locally enhanced services in England’ as well as; ‘the removal of QOF from GP workload’; and for ‘additional funding in the core contract for services such as phlebotomy, spirometry and ECGs’.
England LMCs will meet in London 23-24 November to debate key future policy for the profession.
They will also consider a motion which ‘calls for an end to APMS as a contractual option for general practice’ in light of recent ‘recent announcements regarding private providers of NHS general practices withdrawing from their contracts’.
If passed, the motion could see GP leaders ‘demand’ that ‘any new or re-tendered GP core contract is offered as a GMS contract’ and that ‘commercial organisations’ should never be offered funding at levels above the GMS contract.
A separate motion to be proposed to the conference also calls on GPC England to reiterate existing conference policy when negotiating a new GP contract, including:
- Moving the PCN DES into the core contract
- Moving to an activity-based contract model
- Giving GPs the right to provide private services to their own patients where NHS cannot provide the service
- Removing home visits from core contractual duties.
The motion also stresses that BMA members should be formally balloted ‘once the outcome of negotiations for the new contract with NHSEI / DHSC are known’.
Contract-related motions in full
AGENDA COMMITTEE TO BE PROPOSED BY AVON: That conference demands that general practice funding is consolidated into the GMS payment and calls for: (i) the cessation of all locally enhanced services in England (ii) the removal of QOF from GP workload (iii) additional funding in the core contract for services such as phlebotomy, spirometry and ECGs.
AGENDA COMMITTEE TO BE PROPOSED BY TOWER HAMLETS: That conference notes the recent announcements regarding private providers of NHS general practices withdrawing from their contracts and:
(i) calls for an end to APMS as a contractual option for general practice
(ii) demands that, any new or re-tendered GP core contract is offered as a GMS contract when the successful applicant is able to hold such a contract
(iii) demands that no funding over and above standard GMS should be provided to commercial organisations wishing to run NHS general practice contracts in England.
AGENDA COMMITTEE TO BE PROPOSED BY KENT: That conference calls on GPC England to:
(i) include in its negotiations with NHSEI / DHSC that existing conference policy of an activity-based contract is part of the new contract
(ii) include in its negotiations with NHSEI / DHSC that existing conference policy of PCN into core is part of the new contract
(iii) include in its negotiations with NHSEI / DHSC that existing conference policy of more flexibility for private services the NHS cannot provide is part of the new contract
(iv) include in its negotiations with NHSEI/DHSC that existing conference policy of the removal of home visits from core contract work is part of the new contract
(v) formally ballot members once the outcome of negotiations for the new contract with NHSEI / DHSC are known.
