FAO anyone working in General Practice or those supporting general practice

We all know that it is tough in general practice, however, in April many practices hit a tipping point. As much as those in charge of General Practice finance would love to have the time to forecast forward they are fighting many fires.

A wicked combination hit in April but wasn't truly visible until the end of the month. That combination was the national minimum wage increase alongside other pay increases to widen the gap alongside a pensions clawback. This left a number of practices in the worst financial position they have ever seen. Many practices who considered themselves “fine” have had to ask for emergency overdrafts.

The challenge here is that things, sadly, are not going to get any better. April also saw the contract value increase, with NHS England recommending no further increase this year. Therefore, what exists now is the funding envelope for 24/25. 

This envelope never was C4, but perhaps for a while a DL, we now seem to be down to those tiny brown envelopes in which we used to receive our wages for our Saturday job (did I age myself?)

So what can you do:

Practice Manager or Partner: Seek help early, as tempting as it is, do not hide. Contact your bank and request the funds you require to make ends meet and provide a buffer. As painful as it is consider reducing drawings to aid cashflow. Contact your LMC and ICS. They cannot help if they do not know. Knowing you are not alone is oddly comforting. More practices that ever have activated our funding hardship support.

ICS: Please do all you can to support practices to ensure they are claiming all funding due to them. I appreciate that you also have budgets to protect. We all know the pain and expense when a GP provider collapses. Let us do all we can to avoid this.

Have you asked how practices are coping with kindness and compassion?

Primary Care Suppliers: Practices require your support to pull through this challenging time. Is there any “in kind” support you can offer them? Do you have short dated stock that you can offer at a discounted rate? If a practice is late in paying an invoice - acknowledge that is tis challenging and offer the best terms you can. Every little truly helps.

Primary Care Commissioning NHS England and the Government: You are about to loose something very precious. Often we do not realise how precious until it is gone. Some believe that the erosion of funding is a deliberate act to end the independent contractor model. Before this happens (because it will) consider very carefully how motivated an individual is to make their business work when they are prepared to put their house on the line. Partners also deliver a service to the business that would have to be replaced. The goodwill lost is likely to require twice as many individuals to deliver the capacity you currently have. 

30 million appointments in March 2024 with less that 8% of the NHS budget. There is only one reason you get this value. Small units working tirelessly for their patients and Partners. Does a rise to 10% now feel more attractive that 16% in 2 years time?

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Please feel free to get in touch with me if you can help. We have over 3000 General Practice members in our free community.