Responding to NHS England’s letter on the 2024/25 GP contract Ruth Rankine, director of primary care at the NHS Confederation, said:

“We welcome the increased freedoms and flexibilities being introduced in this contract which reflects what our members have long been asking for to enable them to deliver services in a way that meets local need. The inclusion of additional nurses to the ARRS scheme and removal of caps to recruiting to patient care roles will help bring additional staff into primary care. Primary care leaders will also welcome streamlining the Quality frameworks to reduce the bureaucracy and focus on those that have greatest impact on health outcomes.

“However, our members will be dismayed at the level of additional investment given how much they have achieved during and since the pandemic. There is a risk that we compromise the sustainability of general practice and the significant progress that has been achieved through PCNs.

“To keep general practice thriving, and give it the opportunity to do even more, it needs more investment.”