Planning guidance issued today gives more details on how the extra funding announced in the General Practice Forward View will be used to help transform services. Published by NHS England and NHS Improvement, Delivering the Forward View: NHS Operational Planning Guidance for 2017/18 and 2018/19 provides NHS trusts and commissioners with the tools they need […]

NHS England today agreed new steps to implement plans to strengthen general practice, ease the pressure on GPs and improve services for patients. The measures aim to help struggling GP practices, protect GPs from the rising cost of negligence claims and introduce new models of care that will create more joined-up services. It follows the […]

As the NHS treats more patients than ever before, new data shows the majority of people are increasingly positive about their GP care – with more than 85 per cent rating their overall experience of their GP surgery as good. The GP Patient Survey 2016 compiled responses from more than 800,000 people across the country […]

Patients in England will be able to view test results as they come in and keep track of their glucose levels and cholesterol on their smartphones, enabling them to take greater control of their care and better manage their health. Official figures reveal that over 95% of GP practices are now set up to offer […]

A GP surgery is leading the way in the fight against antibiotic resistance with simple tests that dramatically reduce unnecessary prescribing. Attenborough Surgery in Bushey, Hertfordshire, was awarded £10,000 “acorn” funding in the 2015/16 NHS Innovation Challenge Prizes to further develop its system of point-of-care fingerprick blood tests which help clinicians decide whether antibiotics are […]

NHS England has announced it will recommission the Community Pharmacy Seasonal Influenza Vaccination programme in 2016/17, after nearly a quarter of a million more people benefited from vaccinations in a community pharmacy setting during the previous year. A total of 10,407,913 seasonal flu vaccinations were delivered in 2015/16. This included 240,259 additional patients who chose […]

The head of NHS England today (Thursday) sets out a multi-billion plan designed to get general practice back on its feet, improve patient care and access, and invest in new ways of providing primary care. Publishing a General Practice Forward View – developed with Health Education England and in discussion with the Royal College of […]

A patient safety alert has been issued by NHS England around the prioritisation of general practice home visits. When a request for a home visit is made, it is vital that general practices have a system in place to assess: whether a home visit is clinically necessary; and the urgency of need for medical attention. […]

200,000 homeless, older and vulnerable people have had ‘lessons’ to get online and contact their doctor reducing GP visits and costs to the NHS. In the first two years of the NHS England pilot scheme ‘Widening Digital Participation’ 14,000 people registered with a GP and looked online first before contacting the doctor. Half of those […]

NHS England, the Government, and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee have reached agreement on changes to the GP contract in England for 2016/17, to take effect from 1 April 2016. The new contract will see an investment of £220 million for 2016/17 – part of this will provide a pay uplift of one […]