DAUK is encouraging patients to back its campaign to restore general practice to the heart of the NHS.
Dr Steve Taylor, DAUK’s GP co-lead, has recorded a New Year message emphasising the campaign – Your GP, here for you – is about partnership between doctors and patients.
Your GP, here for you is calling for a new GP contract that puts patients at the centre of care.
The campaign also highlights the mounting pressures on GPs. Dr Taylor said patients wanted to see GPs back in surgeries, delivering face-to-face care where appropriate.
GP crisis
He emphasised that GPs themselves are patients, parents, sons and daughters who face the same access challenges as the public.
And he called on people to support the campaign by encouraging politicians to provide the funding and resources general practice urgently needs.
“We’d love to see is a combined effort to see general practice brought back into the centre of things,” Dr Taylor said.
“In order to pursue that, we need actually everyone working together.”
Your GP, here for you
As part of the Your GP, here for you campaign, DAUK has warned that current conditions threaten patient care and the viability of general practice long-term.
The new patient-centred GP contract is designed to strengthen continuity of care, expand accessible appointments, and rebuild general practice as the cornerstone of the NHS.
The campaign’s proposals are based on The future of general practice, the 2022 Health and Social Care Committee report produced with cross-party support.
DAUK is urging the Government to increase core GP funding by £40 per patient per year, less than £1 per week.
GP funding
This will restore funding to the real-terms level of 2016. Dr Taylor said that general practice provides ‘incredible value for money’.
General practice currently receives just 5.6% of the total NHS budget, despite delivering around 31 million appointments a month.
He said: “Payments to GP practices average £169 per patient per year. That is for all the services GP practices provide and an average six to seven appointments per patient per year.
“A&E gets £113 minimum per attendee, while out patients get £152 minimum for seeing a professional on first attendance. General practice is being short changed by NHS England,” he added.
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