General practitioners committee UK overview

Our priorities

GP pensions and annual allowance

Following extensive lobbying on annual allowance and the pensions taper from the BMA there have been two important changes that affect the 2019/20 and subsequent tax years.

Read our guidance on GP pensions and using scheme pays

Recognition of GPs as specialists

In January 2017, the GMC (General Medical Council) backed our long-standing call for GPs to be added to the specialist register. Together with the RCGP (Royal College of GPs), we released a joint statement in February 2018 calling for the formal recognition of general practitioners as specialists in the UK. The BMA, RCGP and GMC issued a further statement in September 2019 calling for changes to the Medical Act to formally recognise GPs as expert medical generalists and specialists in general practice.

Read the 2019 joint statement

GP partnership review

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published an independent review into GP partnerships. The review was chaired by Dr Nigel Watson, in collaboration with the DHSC, NHS England, GPC and the Royal College of GPs.

Read the independent review

Crisis in general practice (UK)

In July 2018, GPC wrote to the then-secretary of state for health, Matt Hancock MP, regarding the current crisis facing general practice. The letter outlines issues surrounding workload levels, expansion of the general practice and community workforce, technology and prevention, and adequate investment in primary care. We urged Mr Hancock to work with the BMA GPC to find a swift resolution to the crisis in general practice.

Read our 2018 letter to Matt Hancock MP
Read our guidance on managing workload

Capita service failures

Primary Care Support England (PCSE) service failures
PCSE, also known as Capita, have been responsible for the delivery of NHS England's primary care support services since September 2015. During that time, serious concerns have been raised about the service, with both patient safety and GP finances being affected. Issues are still ongoing despite continued talks between the BMA and NHS England.

Read our guidance on PCSE service failures

GP workforce (UK)

Following the development and implementation of a range of national GP workforce initiatives over the last three to four years, we continue to update this resource with helpful guidance and practical support.

Read our GP workforce guidance

Specialist prescribing (UK)

GPC wrote to the GMC to highlight concerns raised by practices about specialist prescribing for patients, such as those with gender dysphoria. The letter outlines the need to ensure patients have access to the specialist treatment they need.

Read our letter to the GMC and the reply from the GMC
Read our guidance on gender dysphoria

Primary care education tariff

GPC chair Richard Vautrey wrote to the secretary of state for health and social care to call for an increase in the funding of undergraduate placements in primary care.

Read the letter

Focus on quality indicators for QOF

GPC has produced a briefing on quality indicators to provide background and context in preparation for the negotiations to the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) and the potential changes following the recent QOF review, led by NHS England. The GPC has highlighted, and NHS England agrees, that a significant proportion of QOF funding is core income for practices and is an essential resource used for the employment of practice staff.

Read the QOF briefing
Read the NHS report of the QOF review in England

NHS standard contract 2017 - 19

The NHS standard contract for secondary care trusts places requirements on hospitals to reduce inappropriate bureaucratic workload shift onto GP practices. GPC has drafted template letters for LMCs in the event that these changes are not being implemented.

Access the templates

GPC surveys

GPC is working to create a better environment to allow GPs to deliver high quality general practice to patients. By gathering your views and feedback, GPC is able to use these surveys during negotiations and in discussions with the government, civil service and other organisations.

Our people

The GPC has 86 members, 43 of whom are directly elected regional representatives. The remainder are either elected at the annual representative meeting (ARM), appointed from subcommittees or groups, or are ex-officio members.

We also have representatives from the sessional GPs committee, the GP trainees committee, Medical Women’s Federation, the Medical Practitioners Union, and British International Doctors Association.

Chair: Dr Richard Vautrey

Nations chairs:
Alan Stout, chair of Northern Ireland GPC
Philip White, chair of GPC Wales
Andrew Buist, chair of GPC Scotland

Associated committees

• GPC England
• GPC Northern Ireland
• GPC Scotland
• GPC Wales
• GP trainees committee
• Sessional GPs committee
• Local medical committees

Our meetings

The UK GPC meets twice a year to discuss the latest issues facing general practice. These meetings are open to GPC members, however, the committee also welcomes observers from LMCs (local medical committees).

LMCs interested in sending an observer to a GPC meeting should contact the GPC office to arrange a suitable date. All travel and other expenses for LMC observers must be met by the relevant LMC. A maximum of three LMC observers may attend any one meeting.

There are currently no scheduled meetings.

All meetings take place from 10am to 5pm at:

BMA House
Tavistock Square
London
WC1H 9JP

For more information about GPC meetings, email [email protected].

Elections

GPC UK regional elections 2020 to 2023

Nominations are sought in the election of voting members of the GPC of the BMA as regional representatives for the 2020-2023 sessions for the following constituencies:

Eligibility

To be eligible to stand or vote in a constituency, you must be one of the following:

• a GP engaged exclusively or predominantly in providing personally or performing NHS primary medical services for a minimum of 52 sessions distributed evenly over six months in the year immediately before election (Tuesday 10 March 2020) and contributes to the voluntary levy of an LMC in the constituency
• a GP on the doctors’ retainer scheme and contributing to the voluntary levy of an LMC in the constituency
• a medically qualified LMC secretary.

Please note that alongside each nomination, confirmation must be received from a representative of the candidate’s LMC that the candidate contributes to the voluntary levy.

This confirmation is part of the candidate’s nomination and must be received by the nomination deadline for the completed nomination to be accepted.

Nominations and casting your vote

Nominations open on Monday 13 January at 12pm 
Nominations close on Monday 3 February at 12pm.

Voting opens on 17 February at 12pm
Voting closes on 16 March at 12pm. 

Results will be announced shortly after voting closes. 

To submit a nomination please go to elections.bma.org.uk. 

If you have any questions about BMA elections please email: [email protected]. 

Governance review

Nominees should be aware that the BMA is currently in the early stages of reviewing its governance structures, which may have some potential to impact on the length of terms of office and regional remits during a term of office.

Get in touch

If you are interested in finding out more about the work of GPC, email [email protected].