Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for general practices to meet changes in the level of patient demand.

In January 2019, the Government, NHS England and NHS Improvement and the general practitioners committee of the British Medical Association agreed to the most ambitious general practice (GP) contract in recent years. The resulting five-year framework for GP contract reform implements the commitments set out in the NHS Long Term Plan and is underpinned by a record level of additional investment in primary medical and community care (an extra £4.5 billion by 2023/24). This was updated in 2020 to invest at least an extra £1.5 billion to increase and diversify the general practice workforce.

The global sum allocation formula which underpins capitation payments to GPs is designed to ensure that resources are directed to practices based on an estimate of their expected patient demand and unavoidable practice costs. Under this formula, practices whose registered patients have greater healthcare needs are paid more per patient than practices whose registered patients have fewer healthcare needs. The National Health Service has a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient medical services, including GPs, in each local area. It should take account of population growth and demographic changes.

The multi-year GP Contract provides funding clarity and certainty to practices until 2023/24. The current framework ends in April 2024. Future funding arrangements for GPs will be considered in due course.

No specific assessments have been made, however, in October 2021, the Government and NHS England published a package of measures, and made £250 million available for a Winter Access Fund to support practices and increase capacity. Examples of how the Winter Access Fund was used included additional hubs and helplines, expanding home visiting capacity, and funding additional sessions from staff.