NHS England have today released information about the new GP contract agreed by the BMA. In this, NHS England propose setting a maximum indicative rate based on a set of rates (which may have some degree of regional variation) for locum pay, where practices will need to record the number of instances where a practice pays a locum doctor more than the maximum indicative rate.
It’s not yet been stated what this indicative rate is, and we’ve asked the BMA for clarification. Whatever this rate is, it’s implicit within NHS Employers statement that this isn’t some new maximum rate above which locums, chambers or agencies can charge, but simply an amount above which practices need to submit a record to NHS England.
This is to understand the scale of the issues practices are facing and help plan how we can target workforce support to areas facing the greatest pressures. – NHS England GP Forward View April 2016
Responding to today’s announcement, NASGP chairman Dr Richard Fieldhouse said, “The mere mention of a maximum rate could undoubtedly artificially constrain the locum market: some practices may be prompted to use this indicative rate as a ceiling, some locums will significantly increase their rates to match it, and some GPs will stop work altogether and move to a higher-paying profession. Either way, there will be no winners, only losers. At the end of the day, this could just make it even harder for struggling and overworked practices to find decent GP cover for their patients.”
- [Pulse] GP practices forced to tell NHS England if they pay over ‘maximum rate’ for locums
- [GPonline] Practices could boycott bid to cap GP locum rates
Update 20th February 2016
In a series of tweets, GPC chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul has distanced the GPC from NHS England’s press release “NHS England, Government and BMA agree new GP contract for 2016/17“:
@ralanshirley @DrFJameel @ResilientGP @cgps_gp @drpshukla @TheBMA @NASGP it’s not in the contract- NHSE intend setting rates & e-dec return
— Chaand Nagpaul (@CNagpaul) February 20, 2016
…and later reassured GPs:
@drpshukla @NASGP @CDianaRichard @TheBMA @clarercgp Business as usual.They can’t control what practices pay nor what locums charge.
— Chaand Nagpaul (@CNagpaul) February 20, 2016