GPs braced for collective action

GPs in England have overwhelmingly backed calls for collective action in response to their rejected national contract terms, the results of a BMA ballot have revealed.

The BMA is calling on doctors working in general practice to prepare to take action as it best fits their practice, after a non-statutory ballot published today showed that 98.3 per cent of those who voted endorsed collective action.

The ballot was called for by GPC England in May two months after GPs in England voted to emphatically reject proposed changes to the 2024/25 GMS contract.

Voting, which was conducted between 17 June and 29 July, saw turnout from 68 per cent of association GP members, with almost 100 per cent voting ‘yes’ to the proposition of taking collective action.

The ballot result comes at a time when GP practices are facing ever greater pressure as a result of patient demand, despite only being allocated six per cent of guaranteed funding through the NHS budget.

Reflecting on the ballot result, BMA GPC England chair Katie Bramall-Stainer said that the vote demonstrated that many GPs were ‘at the end of their tether’ and working within a general practice service that was ‘being broken’.

She said: ‘We had a huge response to this ballot, and the results are clear – GPs are at the end of their tether. This is an act of desperation. For too long, we’ve been unable to provide the care we want to. We are witnessing general practice being broken. The era of the family doctor has been wiped out by recent consecutive Governments and our patients are suffering as a result.

‘There have been countless opportunities to address the funding crisis in general practice, and despite almost 100 per cent of GPs voting to reject the 2024/25 contract earlier this year, still nothing was done.

She added: ‘We understand that the new Government has inherited a broken NHS, and we’ve had some positive conversations with the new Health Secretary about the situation in general practice.

‘The DDRB award is a small a step in the right direction but we still have hundreds of millions less resource to run our practices compared to even five years ago. Practices are still closing, so we have no choice but to move ahead with collective action to protect our practices, and our patients.’

Collective action by GPs could incorporate a number of steps and measures including practices imposing limitations on the number of daily patient appointments to a safe working level, or reducing or ceasing work that they are not formally contracted to undertake.

Non contractual work could include completion of fit notes, prescriptions or investigations that should have been undertaken in secondary care setting.

GPC England has emphasised its willingness to work with NHS England and the Department of Health in finding a way forward in addressing dissatisfaction over GMS contract changes and poor-working conditions and pressures facing doctors in primary care.

Dr Bramall-Stainer said that far from closing doors to patients, collective action measures would allow practices to remain safe and operational while seeking a long-term solution with NHS England and the Department of Health.

She said: ‘This will not be a “big bang”. It will be a slow burn. It’s likely that impact may not be felt for some time. We hope this will give the new Government time to consider our proposed solutions including fixing our contract once and for all.

‘General practice should be the front door of the NHS, not the doormat. We don’t want to have to take this next step but must if we’re to stop our services from collapsing completely. A key Labour manifesto promise was to bring back the family doctor, and we look forward to making sure that can become a reality as soon as possible.’