GOING UP
Super-practices – a number of plus-sized partnerships were launched this year
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Local GP contracts – the dawn of co-commissioning has seen many CCGs seize control of the GP contract
Scottish GPs – this year saw a break with the rest of the UK, as the Scottish GPC dumped the QOF and pursued a new contract with limits on workload
Simon Stevens – the man who got the chancellor to give a £8bn rise in NHS funding over the next Parliament, despite ongoing austerity. Although, it was paid for by cuts in other areas and there is the small matter of £22bn of efficiency savings to be made in return
GOING DOWN
QOF – Pulse presciently predicted the end of the framework in January, and a new voluntary GP contract was announced this year that will abolish the link with funding for good in 2017
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Pfizer – the firm lost a lot of GP goodwill after it forced them to switch all patients with neuropathic pain to the branded version of pregabalin, before losing its High Court case against generics manufacturers
GP referral incentives – a Pulse investigation into CCG schemes showed some were including emergency cancer referrals, prompting NHS bosses to intervene
GP pay – for the eighth time in nine years GPs saw a reduction in take-home earnings after a measly 1.16% uplift
