News
NHS England welcomes moves to improve care for patients through empowering GPs
Patients are set to benefit from changes to the GP contract which will reduce bureaucracy and free GPs to deliver personalised care. The changes will ensure that the most vulnerable patients receive personalised care. This will mean more patients can be looked after in the community and will reduce emergency admissions. GPs will be freed […]
NHS England calls on GPs to end use of expensive 084 numbers
GP practices are to be warned that they will be in breach of contract if they do not take all reasonable steps to stop their patients being asked to use 084 numbers for appointments and advice. The national office of NHS England is writing to all its 27 Area Teams from today – see the […]
NHS England invites local communities to help shape the future of general practice
NHS England is engaging with local communities, clinicians and stakeholders, about the best possible way to develop general practice for the future. NHS England wants general practice to play an even stronger role at the heart of more integrated out of hospital services that deliver better health outcomes, more personalised care, excellent patient experience and […]
New GPSoC contract to foster improved competition and innovation
NHS England and the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) have announced the start of a new procurement process for an expanded framework of services and solutions for GP practices. The new GP System of Choice (GPSoC) contract will build on the success of the existing contract that has been in place since 2007. […]
NHS England announces new technical guidance to improve patient care
The Care.Data Programme closed in 2016 NHS England has today published guidance for GP practices explaining how better use of anonymised patient information from general practice will help commissioners improve the quality, efficiency, and equity of health care services. The GP Technical Specification and its associated guidance was developed in partnership with the British Medical […]
New guidance for NHS England area teams and GP practices from NHS Employers
2013/14 patient participation directed enhanced service guidance published NHS Employers, the General Practitioners Committee of the BMA and NHS England have jointly published the 2013/14 patient participation directed enhanced service guidance. This guidance applies in England only and is intended to assist NHS England area teams and GP practices in understanding this service and how […]
Electronic Prescription Service (EPS): Authorisation of prescribers to enable EPS Release 2
From 1 April 2013 NHS England is responsible for authorising prescribing contractors to use the Electronic Prescription Service. This responsibility is included in paragraph 39A of Schedule 6 of the GMS Contract Regulations. NHS England hereby authorise the following sites to use the Electronic Prescription Service. All prescribing sites that are already using EPS Release […]
More GP-led groups will begin healthcare commissioning with a clean bill of health
Half of all the new GP-led groups will begin commissioning healthcare on behalf of their local communities on April 1 with a clean bill of health and no requirement of on-going national support. Every community in England is now covered by one of 211 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which will be led by GPs and […]
GP-led groups ready to take charge of NHS budgets in every community in England
NHS Commissioning Board establishes fourth and final wave of clinical commissioning groups. New clinical commissioning system is set up across England and all 211 new organisations ready to take up their statutory responsibilities on behalf of local communities. Local clinicians have been given the go-ahead to take control of the NHS budget in all of […]
Primary care IT services: Operating model published
On 3 April 2014 NHS England published Securing Excellence in GP IT Services: Operating model for 2014-16 an updated operating model to ‘Securing Excellence in GP IT Services’. The updated document sets out plans for how more than £230million in funding will be used to ensure all GP practices across England have high quality IT […]