DAUK welcomed a funding increase as part of the 2026/27 contract, but warned it was not the level of investment needed to protect the future of general practice and improve patient care.
Dr Steve Taylor, GP co-lead for the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), said the £485 million announced by the Government was actually worth around £85 million when adjusted for inflation.
He said the contract fell short of what was required to meet the Labour Government’s manifesto pledge to ‘bring back the family doctor’.
And he added that there was an ‘incredibly disappointing’ lack of vision for the future of general practice.
Dr Taylor said: “We welcome any increase in GP funding, but this is not bold enough.
“The new GP contract merely tinkers around the edges of what is needed to genuinely bring back the family doctor, which was Labour’s manifesto pledge.
“The funding increase for core general practice is only £85m, when adjusted for inflation, and will not go very far.
“The lack of genuine core funding, combined with a lack of vision for what can be achieved, is incredibly disappointing given the Labour Government is nearly two years into its tenure.”
Dr Taylor highlighted DAUK’s Your GP, here for you campaign, which calls for a GP contract that puts patients at the heart of care.
DAUK’s contract is designed to strengthen continuity, improve access, and ensure GP services are properly funded.
DAUK’s proposals are based on The future of general practice, the 2022 Health and Social Care Committee report produced with cross-party support.
Key recommendations are around continuity of care and removal of the tick-box top-down management of care.
Delivering this vision will require the Government to increase core GP funding by £40 per patient per year – less than £1 a week – to restore funding to the real-terms level of 2016.
Dr Taylor said: “DAUK has proposed a genuine alternative, ‘Your GP, here for you’, which puts patients first, frees GPs from bureaucratic barriers and encourages improvement in continuity of care.
“The next steps must include these otherwise this will see the end of general practice, patients will suffer, and the health of the nation will deteriorate.”
We are a non-profit campaigning and lobbying organisation led by frontline doctors, for frontline doctors. We are volunteers and our collective aim is to give frontline workers a voice to be heard.
Please support our work by contributing to our crowd funder.