We are a rural practice but atypically with a very low Carr Hill formula, so when compared to similar practices, our funding per patient via the global sum is low. Within our PCN, those with higher weighted lists get over £20 per patient more than us via the global sum – it’s a wide variance.
MPIG made up that difference and ensured that we remained on parity with other practices and able to meet the costs needed to run a rural practice in a remote setting with some unusual demographics due to where we are in the Lake District. NHS England and the CCG have agreed that we meet their definition of an atypical population.
We campaigned over this back in 2015, and eventually locally we did get some support through some additional local atypical funding. Unfortunately, we have been informed by our CCG that they have decided to stop that as of 31 March 2022. This is despite assurances previously that support would continue to make us sustainable.
We are now faced with rising demand as all practices have seen but with a sizeable drop in funding from next April. It feels like groundhog day again – but even worse than in 2015!
Practices who had sizeable MPIGs had them for a reason – but that seems long forgotten in the commissioning world. Pulse’s recent figures highlight though why without it we have struggled and why our local atypical funding plugged the gap.
Dr Kaye Ward is a GP partner in the Lake District
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Time to get onto you rUnion, or just resign the GMS contract as a Practice and offer to take it back at different conditions