(PCN) National Information and Key Dates

Updated on Thursday, 7 October 2021, 4531 views

GP Contract agreement 2021/22

BMA PCN Handbook 2021 June 2021

GPC England has negotiated minimal updates to the GP contract 2021/22 to give practice support and stability through the pandemic period.

Minimal changes from 1 April 2021, including delays to previously agreed elements. full details here

Funding commitments already made will be honoured (GP contract uplifts, IIF and ARRS uplifts etc).
Changes are to assist with the pandemic and its impact.
Arrangements will remain under review, depending on the progression of the pandemic and the progress of the Covid vaccination programme, and further changes will be agreed between NHS England and GPC England in year (with reasonable notice provided to practices).
QOF will be based on the indicator set from 20/21, with limited changes.
Global sum will increase by £3.82 (4.1%) to £97.28
QOF point value will increase by £6.33 (3.3%) to £201.16
Out of hours adjustment will increase by £0.14 (3.0%) to £4.59

Primary Care Networks – plans for 2021/22 and 2022/23 - 23 August 2021

Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service (DES) and improving general practice appointment data (GPAD)

NHSE/I has published a suite of documents to support the updated Network Contract DES from April 2021. These documents implement the changes set out in the 21 January 2021 letter and include a cover note outlining the key changes, the updated Network Contract DES Specification and Guidance, and a number of supporting guidance documents, including a set of FAQs.

They have also published guidance for practices on standard national general practice appointment categories to support the mapping of local appointment slots to these new categories. This follows joint NHSE/I and GPC guidance published in August 2020, which introduced an agreed definition of a general practice appointment.

Practices are required to record all appointments in their clinical systems in line with this definition. Practices should refer to new system specific guidance, published by NHS Digital, which provides tips on how to improve data quality recording.

The final piece of guidance is for Primary care networks implementing the Investment and Impact Fund for their practices as per the requirements set out in the Network Contract DES.

Primary Care Network (PCN) Dashboard

NHSE&I has now launched the Primary Care Network (PCN) Dashboard on NHS ViewPoint. To access the dashboard, please either register on the Insights Platform or login in using your existing Insights Platform account nd then select the NHS ViewPoint product. There is also a user guide s available on FutureNHS to help navigate the dashboard.

The dashboard supports PCNs to understand their local population health priorities and the benefits that they are delivering for their patients. It will include indicative data on performance and achievement for the Investment and Impact Fund indicators, as well as PCN service delivery and progress with recruitment. Some indicators draw on data extracted from GP IT systems, as described in the 2020/21 Network Contract DES. Further information about these indicators, and the SNOMED codes that they draw on, can be found on NHS Digital’s website .

The dashboard is refreshed when new data sources are updated providing a consistent and current view. It’s accessible to all PCNs and generates shared and comparable views across the country.

List of ARRS roles and Job Descriptions - from e-lfh learning

New Roles in Primary Care

The New Roles in Primary Care National Toolkit has been developed to enable Primary and Community Care Training Hubs to work collaboratively with Primary Care Networks (PCNs) towards the development of the Primary Care workforce, as outlined in the GP Contract. The GP contract states that New Roles will be essential in securing the 26,000 extra staff under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS). Training Hubs will support future workforce planning as one of their core functions. Training Hubs are designed to meet the educational needs of the multidisciplinary primary care team and bring together NHS organisations, community providers and local authorities. This resource will allow Training Hubs to work with their PCNs and support workforce planning, providing a valuable resource for systems developing their primary care workforce.

This Toolkit refers not only to roles included in the ARRS, but to all new roles in Primary Care.

GP Contract Agreement England 2020/21

GPC England has negotiated an update to the GP contract 2020/21 - 2023/24. This contract will build on the Primary Care Networks created in 2019 (with additional funding and additional workforce), expand recruitment and retention initiatives for GPs (supported with additional funding), thus reducing workload, while retaining GP and partnership autonomy and ensuring GPs have a leadership role at the centre of primary care. The changes will significantly increase funding into the contract (both core and PCN), the details of which are set out below.

Full Details here