The BMA’s Welsh GP committee (GPC Wales) has confirmed
details of the annual GP contract changes for 2018/19 in Wales, which will
provide financial stability for practices, and reduce workload and bureaucracy
whilst the wider review of the contract continues.
The agreement includes:
• An uplift to the General Medical Services (GMS) contract
for 2018/2019 of £11.67m including:
- An uplift of 1% for pay and a
1.4% increase for general expenses (whilst awaiting delayed DDRB determination).
- An uplift of £2.7m towards the
rising costs of professional indemnity for GMS GPs and the wider practice
clinical teams.
• Reduced Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) to disease
registers (other than flu indicators which will be retained) to alleviate
workload pressures. Cluster network domain reduced to engagement in five
meetings over the year.
• Improved mentoring and coaching arrangements including
access to the Academi Wales coaching collaborative.
• A commitment to explore access to health board employment
benefits to improve the recruitment offering available to GPs.
• Improved recording of Welsh language provision at practice
and cluster level.
• A commitment to explore and address barriers currently faced
by those who have recently left the GP workforce.
• An extension of the enhanced service for influenza
outbreak prescribing for 2018-2019.
• Support for IT migrations to commence in January 2019.
Dr Charlotte Jones, Chair of GPC Wales, said:
“I’m pleased that our collaborative working relationship
with Welsh Government and NHS Wales has enabled the challenging work of the
review of the GMS contract in Wales to be taken forward in a positive manner to
make general practice sustainable for the future.
“This agreement provides much needed financial stability for
practices through the indemnity offer and interim pay and expenses uplift,
whilst awaiting the DDRB determination. It will also protect practice resources
so that they can be used on caring for patients.
“The reductions in bureaucracy and workload will also
provide some much needed respite for practices and clusters facing
unprecedented demands.
“I am confident that these significant improvements to the
contract will deliver real benefits to GPs across Wales.”
The GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 replace the Data Protection Act 1998 with anupdated and strengthened data protection framework, however, the key principles of the original Act remain unchanged. The most relevant changes for GPs in their role as data controllers are highlighted in the box below. The remainder of the guidance explains GP data controllers’ responsibilities under the GDPR, and sets out the main themes of the legislation and what needs to be done to ensure compliance. The principles in the guidance apply to doctors working in private practice or other NHS healthcare settings.
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