The England Conference took place on Friday 5 November, two of the more notable motions voted on are listed below. The full agenda can be found here. GPC England’s latest newsletter includes a summary of the Chair’s speech to conference. The newsletter is the best place to stay up-to-date with their next steps on the issues debated.
Representatives from our LMCs spoke on a number of topics, including:
- the need for greater in-person training for GP registrars,
- how GPC effectively represents different GP roles, and
- the impact of non-prescribing roles in secondary care passing un-resourced work into general practice.
They also submitted requests to be speakers on dozens of other motions, but the Conference is run to a tight time frame with opportunities to speak at a premium.
While LMCs send representatives to the BMA Conference to vote on policy, LMCs are not part of the trade union itself so not permitted by law to encourage or orchestrate participation in any industrial action.
Motion 5 – online access
This was carried in all parts by the Conference and will now inform GPC England policy. The motion reads:
That conference is deeply concerned that the 2025 / 26 contract variation requires practices to maintain continuous online, telephone and physical access throughout core hours (08:00–18:30). Conference:
- rejects the government’s contractual requirement for GP practices to guarantee universal patient access throughout all core hours, condemning it as a cynical political stunt that is unfunded, unsafe, and knowingly undeliverable in the context of current workforce collapse
- insists that practices must retain flexibility to deliver access in ways that reflect the needs and demographics of their patient population
- insists that online consultations may be curtailed when safe working limits have been reached
- demands the immediate removal of these access mandates, which reduce care to box-ticking targets and put patients at risk
- mandates GPCE to prepare options for action, including non-compliance with access requirements, should government refuse to revise the 2025 / 26 contract variation.
Motion 6 – NHS 10-Year-Plan
Also carried in all parts by the Conference, the motion reads:
That conference asserts that the three core aims of the 10 Year Health Plan cannot be delivered without GP leadership, alongside full and transparent assurance on funding streams, and calls on GPCE to:
- insist that implementation of the Plan must not be imposed by trusts or ICBs, but instead be co-designed and led by GPs and general practice–led organisations, with oversight and review by LMCs, rejecting any proposals which marginalise GP leadership
- not accept the development of Single Neighbourhood Provider or Multi Neighbourhood Provider contracts as fulfilling the Secretary of State’s commitment to renegotiate the GMS contract
- demand adequate funding to back up the plan, rejecting any attempt by ICBs to shift unfunded workload to general practice under the guise of integration or transformation
- advise practices to disengage from participation in neighbourhood provider structures unless they are demonstrably led by general practice, with equitable representation and control
- issue guidance to support practices in resisting contractual or structural involvement in neighbourhood models that undermine independent contractor status or partnership led care.