Responding to the announcement of £40m of reallocated primary care funding to reduce hospital admissions this winter, BMA GPs committee England chair Dr Clare Bannon said:

"As we go into the winter GPs are facing a crushing workload, with the average full-time GP now looking after more than 2,000 patients each. With millions of pounds of funding being removed from our core funding, practices will have to freeze recruitment and may even let doctors go.

“New funding to help patients and practices over winter would be welcome, but we must be clear – today’s announcement is not new funding, and is therefore asking practices to do more with existing budgets. It is money repurposed due to NHS England’s ongoing and aggressive list validation programme, which has seen patients wrongly removed from practice lists and practices left having money they had already budgeted for taken away.

“Meanwhile, this money is being taken from individual practices and moved to Primary Care Networks, further threatening the sustainability of local surgeries.

“This should be the time for Government to reverse course and restore our core funding so we can take on the coming winter with a modicum of hope.

"As more money is diverted from core general practice funding, more patients will not get the care they need from a GP who is no longer there to treat them. That will push those patients back into an overloaded system, worse off and more distressed, adding to the already vicious conditions we see in hospitals today.

"The Government needs to support long-term staffing, not impose schemes that reduce GP capacity as we go into the increased demands of winter."

ENDS

Notes to editors

The BMA is a professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. A leading voice advocating for outstanding health care and a healthy population. An association providing members with excellent individual services and support throughout their lives.