Family doctors in England have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking collective action for the first time in 60 years in a row over the new GP’s contract.
GPs will be able to choose from a series of actions set out by the British Medical Association (BMA) after 98.3% of more than 8,500 GPS in England who took part voted in favour.
Doctors have said the action could last for “months” and could bring the NHS to a “standstill very quickly” for NHS admin staff and politicians but not for patients.
The options include:
• Limiting daily patients to 25 – about a third fewer than normal;
• Stop engaging with the e-referral and guidance service, which allows one GP to seek advice from another clinician;
• Switching off NHS software that allows discounted or free prescriptions for some people;
• Referring patients directly to specialist care rather than following more complex NHS processes;
• Refusing to share patient data unless it is in the best interests of a patient;
• Withdraw permission for data sharing agreements that use data for secondary purposes;
• Defer making any decisions to accept NHS pilot programmes.
Each GP practice will pick and choose which one to implement, as they see fit.
They could start with one and add more incrementally or could do all of them from day one.
The BMA said many of the actions will lead to GPs spending more time with their patients, while showing how problems are generated by “NHS wider systems, national mismanagement and bureaucracy”.
The new GP contract, which will see services given a 1.9% funding increase for 2024/25 means many surgeries will struggle to stay financially viable, according to the BMA.
Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of the BMA’s GP committee for England, said: “This will not be a ‘big bang’, it will be a slow burn. It’s likely that impact may not be felt for some time.
“We hope this will give the new government time to consider our proposed solutions including fixing our contract once and for all.”
The last time GPs took collective action was in 1964 when family doctors handed in undated resignations to the Wilson government.
This led to reform including the Family Doctor Charter of 1965.
The health secretary had urged GPs not to punish patients.
Dr Bramall-Stainer said: “We had a huge response to this ballot, and the results are clear – GPs are at the end of their tether. This is an act of desperation.
“For too long, we’ve been unable to provide the care we want to. We are witnessing general practice being broken.
“The era of the family doctor has been wiped out by recent consecutive governments and our patients are suffering as a result.”
She said there have been “countless opportunities” to address funding issues in general practice and although nearly all GPs voted to reject their 2024/25 contract offer, “nothing was done”.
Practices are now “struggling to keep the lights on, can’t afford to hire much needed GPs and other staff, and some have even closed for good,” Dr Brammal-Stainer added.
She said GPs understand the new Labour government has inherited “a broken NHS” and the BMA has had “some positive conversations” with new health secretary Wes Streeting but the causes behind practices closing and GPs leaving remain.
“These actions will help keep practices open and keep GPs in the NHS workforce to buy time for Mr Streeting to make the necessary changes that were promised in the Labour Party’s election manifesto,” she said.
The collective action comes after the Department of Health and Social Care made a new pay offer to junior doctors in England – potentially bringing months of strike action to an end.
Junior doctor members of the BMA are now voting on whether to accept the deal, which is worth 22.3% on average over two years.
Source Agencies
