GP practices were paid an average of £163.65 per registered patient in 2021/22, according to new data released by NHS Digital.
The report NHS Payments to General Practice in England presents information on NHS payments made to general practices, walk-in centres and combined walk-in centres and out-of-hours practices.
It shows the money paid to practices for activities and costs, such as direct enhanced services, local incentive schemes, premises, PCN participation, prescribing and more, during the 2021/22 financial year.
It isn’t a record of the amount of money available for direct patient care, nor the total invested in patient care through general practice.
The data showed that the average payment per registered payment has risen by £4.04 in the past year – up from £159.61 in 2020/21.
The average payment per weighted patient has also risen slightly. It was £159.61 in 2020/21 and rose to £163.68 this year.
The weighted patient count is used in the practice funding formula based on the needs of the registered patient population. It takes into account factors such as patient need (morbidity and mortality), rurality, age and gender, and patients in nursing or residential homes.
The data also revealed that NHS payments to general practice in England totalled more than £10million across 6,758 GP service providers, including GMS, PMS and APMS providers.
The data also include payments made at individual practice level and PCN level.
Earlier this month, the Government tasked its independent pay review body with making an ‘affordable’ GP pay recommendation for 2023/24.
The remit, set out by health secretary Steve Barclay, covers salaried GPs but partners again remain excluded due to the five-year contract that expires at the end of the next financial year.
A version of this article was first published by Pulse’s sister title Management in Practice
