Doctors Association UK (DAUK) has launched a campaign calling for a new GP contract that puts patients at the centre of care.
Titled Your GP, here for you, the campaign highlights the mounting pressures on GP practices following a decade of underinvestment.
Dr Steve Taylor, DAUK’s GP co-lead, said: “After years of underfunding GP practices, appointments are still as hard to get and patients are not getting the services they need or deserve.”
Patient-centred GP contract
We have produced our own modern patient-centred GP contract. The contract is designed to strengthen continuity, improve access, and ensure GP services are properly funded.
Our proposals are based on The future of general practice, the 2022 Health and Social Care Committee report produced with cross-party support.
However, the report’s publication coincided with the resignation of then-Prime Minister Liz Truss, leading to limited public attention and little subsequent policy action.
Our key recommendations are around continuity of care and removal of the tick-box top-down management of care. They emphasise a patient-centred approach and plans for improvement on access and fixing problems of inequality.
GP funding
Delivering this vision will require investment. We’re asking 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.
Average funding has risen from £152 per patient in 2016 to £169 today. Had it kept pace with inflation, it would now stand at £209 per patient.
Dr Taylor said: “General practice has been stretched to breaking point by real-term cuts in funding by successive governments.
“With the right contract and fair funding, GPs can deliver continuity, improve access, and rebuild general practice, which is the bedrock of our NHS.”
Your GP, here for you
Dr Taylor added: “We hope patients, GPs, community teams, and MPs will see the incredible benefits of a fully funded and functioning general practice.
“The time is now. Your GP, here for you.”
Read our proposed new GP contract below.
DAUK committee members are volunteers and campaign about issues facing doctors in their own time. Please support our work by joining DAUK or donating to our GoFundMe.
GP Contract Final Version
