October 8, 2020
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Changes to the GP Contract
Last week, NHS England wrote to all Practices explaining the changes to the GP contract which take effect from 1 October 2020, and the extension of the temporary changes to the GP contract (under the pandemic regulations) until 31 March 2021. Here is a link to the Regulations https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/911/schedule/1/made.
In summary, from 1 October:
- Practices must participate in the GP appointments data collection
- Practices must complete the NHS Digital Workforce Collection monthly rather than quarterly
- Practices must ensure that Patient registration data is regularly updated
- When a patient is removed from the Practice list because they are no longer in the catchment area, they will continue to be registered for 30 days (or until they register with another Practice), but the current Practice is no longer responsible for home visits
- Patients who have previously been removed from a GP Practice list and entered into a Special Allocation Scheme (violent patient scheme) cannot be permanently refused readmission to a Practice list
- Patients whose relationship with their Practice has broken down, and who need to be reassigned to another Practice, can be assigned to any Practice within the Patient’s local CCG, rather than within the Practice area
- Out-of-area registration can apply to a new Patient who has been assigned to a Practice where they reside outside of a Practice’s area but within the CCG area
- Onward sub-contracting of clinical services provided under the Network Contract DES is allowed where permission of the commissioner is granted
- Cancellation of CQC registration is a ground for termination of a GP contract
- There will be an uplift to the Dispensing Doctors Fee scales
- Practices only need to carry out medication reviews for 7.5% of their dispensing Patients under the Dispensary Services Quality Scheme (DSQS)
The extension of temporary changes to the GP contract (under the pandemic regulations) until 31 March 2021 include:
- Suspension of Friends and Family Test returns
- Suspension for individual Patient consent in certain circumstances, to encourage increased use of electronic repeat dispensing (eRD)
- Increase in the number of appointment slots for direct booking by NHS 111, to one slot per 500 Patients per day
In 2021, the following regulatory changes will come into effect:
- Practices will be required to record ethnicity data from 1 January. Patient ethnicity checks should currently be carried out as part of Phase 3 of the NHS response to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Immunisations and vaccinations will become essential services from April
- The introduction of pay transparency