Our priorities
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.
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 pension update
We have identified key areas relating to GP pensions that we are working on.
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
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.
The GP premises survey found that only half of practices considered their premises to be fit for present needs, falling to just over two in 10 practices when they were asked if their premises were fit for the future.
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
Policy leads
Clinical and prescribing, Preeti Shukla
Commissioning and provider development/working at scale, Chandra Kanneganti
Contracts and regulation, Julius Parker
Dispensing and pharmacy, David Bailey
Education, training and workforce, Samira Anane
Information management, technology and information governance, Anu Rao
Premises and practice finance, Gaurav Gupta
Representation, Bruce Hughes
Non-voting members: Ex officio
President, Professor Raanan Gillion
Chair of the representative body, Helena McKeown
Chair of council, Chaand Nagpaul
Treasurer, Trevor Pickersgill
Chair of GPC Scotland, Andrew Buist
Chair of GPC Wales, Philip White
Chair of GPC Northern Ireland, Alan Stout
Voting Members: Ex officio
Chair of the UK LMC conference, Mark Corcoran
Deputy chair of the UK LMC conference, Katie Bramall-Stainer
Chair of the England conference of LMCs, Rachel McMahon
Deputy chair of the England conference of LMCs, Shaba Nabi
Elected by the annual representative meeting 2019 (from an English constituency)
Surendra Kumar
Annapurna Rao
Zoe Greaves
Clare Gerada
Fay Wilson
Karthik Bhat
Daniel Djemal
Elected by the UK LMC conference
Rachel Ali
Samira Anane
Paul Cundy
Chandra Kanneganti
Krishna Kasaraneni
Denise McFarlane
Timothy Morton
Voting nominees of other bodies
GP trainees committee (two representatives)
Lynn Hryhorskyj
Sandesh Gulhane
Sessional GPs committee (four representatives)
Ben Molyneux
Nicola Kemp
Krishan Aggarwal
Mark Coley
Medical Women’s Federation
Rose McCullagh
Devina Maru
Medical Practitioners' Union (two representatives)
Jackie Applebee
Deborah Colvin
British International Doctors Association
Rakesh Sharma
Under-represented groups (voting members)
Prison doctors
Wayne Sturley
GP within first five years post CCT
Sarah Westerbeek
Non-voting nominees of other bodies:
Royal College of General Practitioners (two representatives)
Frances Cranfield
Martin Marshall
BMA patient liaison group (one representative)
Jane Gregory
Forty-three elected regionally
GPC's policy groups focus on specific workstreams, and deliver work on behalf of GPC. You can find out more about our policy groups and their work below.
Clinical and prescribing
The clinical and prescribing policy group leads on matters relating to drugs and prescribing, which includes vaccinations and immunisations policy, and the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF).
Commissioning and provider development
The commissioning and working at scale policy group leads on all matters relating to the commissioning and provision of services including CCG commissioning and practice based commissioning, enhanced services, out of hour (OOH), new providers and the internal market.
Contracts and regulation
The contracts and regulation policy group leads on regulatory and contractual issues relating to GPs working within the NHS, as well as the interface with private practice, and matters relating to prison doctors.
Dispensing and pharmacy
The dispensing and pharmacy policy group leads on matters relevant to the regulations for dispensing doctors, and those relating to the provision of pharmaceutical services in the community.
Education, training and workforce
The Education, training and workforce policy group leads on all education issues and the recruitment and retention of the general practice workforce.
Information, management, technology and information governance
The information management, technology and information governance policy group leads on all matters relating to NHS GP information, management and technology and all other relevant initiatives such as primary and secondary care IT interface, training and change management.
Premises and practice finance
The premises and practice finance policy group leads on financial and resource issues relating to GP practices as businesses and GP-specific payments including: pensions, tax and accountancy, premises and geography related costs.
Representation
The representation policy group work to ensure there is adequate representation of all GPs on GPC and within the NHS.
Workload management
The workload management policy group leads on all issues related to workload in general practice and advises on issues relating to workload control.
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:
- Hillingdon, Brent and Harrow, Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow
- Lewisham, Southwark and Lambeth, Bexley and Greenwich, Bromley
- Cheshire, Mid Mersey
- Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside, Gateshead and South Tyneside, Sunderland
- Glasgow and Clyde
- Gloucestershire, Avon
- Wiltshire, Dorset
- Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire
- Berkshire, North and East Hampshire
- Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield
- Leicestershire and Rutland, Northamptonshire
- North Yorkshire, Bradford
- Dyfed Powys, North Wales
- North Staffordshire /South Staffordshire /Shropshire
- Sandwell/Walsall/Wolverhampton/Dudley
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].