Minister welcomes GPs' acceptance of pay deal

Health Minister Angela Smith has welcomed the outcome of a nationwide ballot in which UK GP's voted to accept a new NHS contract.

In a ballot of general practitioners throughout the UK, 79.4% voted "yes" to the question: Do you wish to see the proposed new GMS (General Medical Services) contract implemented?

GMS is the national contract under which the majority of family doctors work. The new contract is to be implemented throughout the UK.

The Minister said: "I welcome the outcome of the ballot and the fact that GPs have voted to see the proposed new General Medical Services contract implemented.

"The contract contains far-reaching measures which will deliver significant benefits for general practitioners, the health service and for patients. It will also be supported by a major increase in investment in general medical services in primary care of some £45m over the next three years – an increase of 34% - guaranteed by the Government.”

The Minister said she was now looking forward to working with the General Practitioners Committee in Northern Ireland to ensure effective implementation of the proposals.

One of the contentious areas in the new contract for GPs has been the allocation formula for distributing resources. The formula distributes money to practices on the basis of factors including the weighted needs of patients and relative workload and costs.

GPs want to see these factors include additional issues such as the extra costs of running small or split-site surgeries, and the workload involved in seeing patients who do not speak English.

Now that the profession has accepted the contract, those parts of it that do not require primary legislation will come into force almost immediately. These include a pay uplift backdated to April 2003 for GMS doctors averaging 11% in the current financial year and amounting to an average of 26% by year three.

Commenting on the result, Dr John Chisholm, chairman of the BMA's General Practitioners Committee, said: "This signals a new era for general practice. The profession has given a clear mandate for change. A large majority of general practitioners - eight out of ten - want the new contract to be introduced. I believe this is the turning point for general practice and that family doctors have chosen the road which will lead them to a better working life and provide their patients with even higher quality care."

The negotiations to devise a new UK-wide contract for the provision of general medical services by GPs were conducted between the General Practitioners Committee of the British Medical Association and the NHS Confederation, which was appointed by the Government to act on behalf of the Health Department.

(MB)