General practice leaders in England have voted to hold a ballot on potential collective action over imposed contractual terms that they warn are already forcing some practices to close.
At a meeting on 16 May the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee for England decided to launch a non-statutory ballot of GP partners. If there is a majority vote, doctors will be able to take action immediately. The committee said any action the BMA subsequently directed GP partners and their staff to take would not involve contract breaches.
The move came after the committee’s decision to enter into a dispute with NHS England over 2024-25 changes to the general medical services (GMS) contract, which were imposed last month.1 The changes included a core funding uplift of 1.9%, which GPC England warned was way below inflation and would leave practices on the brink financially and at risk of closure …
