Medical practice - contract and context principles of the Scottish Approach: update

2. Investment in General Practice

2.1 In our previous joint publication we made clear that delivering our Vision requires three levels of intervention - contractual; primary care policy and investment; and wider government policy and investment. This remains an important element of our agreed approach in Scotland.

2.2 As a direct result of negotiations with SGPC, the Cabinet Secretary announced that by 2021 the investment in direct support of general practice will reach an additional £250 million per year. How this money is invested each year will be agreed through continuing negotiations between the Scottish Government and Scottish General Practitioner's Committee of the BMA. The shared priority of the investment is workforce - to build the core practice and cluster based teams of primary care professionals needed to improve patient care and refocus the GP role to Expert Medical Generalist.

2.3 This is a critical part our commitment, outlined by the First Minister in October 2016, to increase overall annual funding for primary care by £500 million by 2021/22. What this means, as the Cabinet Secretary made clear at the SLMC Conference, is that while the full £500 million invested in primary care will benefit general practice, by 2021, the investment in direct support of general practice will reach an additional £250 million per year. This investment is in addition to any uplift in GP pay.

2.4 There will be year on year increased investment between now and then. For 2017/18, the amount of additional investment to support general practice has been agreed at £60 million and will be delivered as part of the 2017/18 budget passed by the Scottish Parliament on 28 ^th February 2017. These investments will transform the way services are delivered in the community, by improving recruitment and retention, reducing workload and developing new ways of delivering services.

2.5 An additional £11.6 million will be added to the GP contract next year to cover an increase to pay and expenses. It will include a 1% uplift for GP Pay; 1% uplift for staff expenses and 3.5% for other expenses.

2.6 We agree that urgent as well as long term investment is needed and we will deliver that in every year of this parliament. However, we also recognise that without a clear vision for the role of the GP in our future community health service, investment on its own is not enough.