Speaking at the NHS Alliance annual conference last week Dr Hamish Meldrum said the NHS should operate only two GP contracts because the current range of options was too wide and created ‘unfairness and confusion’.
‘The money you get should not depend on the contractual option you choose,’ Dr Meldrum said. ‘We need consistency and fewer contractual options. I think we need two — GMS and APMS.’
GMS would be the ‘nationally based, safe contract’ and APMS a flexible alternative to allow innovative approaches to fit local health needs, he explained.
He warned that GMS would have to evolve: ‘It doesn’t encourage practices to expand. It is difficult for new practices to set up under current GMS.’
This could be resolved in part by increasing global sum funding to cut the proportion of practices reliant on the MPIG, he said.
Full story in 1 December issue of GP
