New reimbursement scheme to help practices employ GPs revealed

A new practice-level reimbursement scheme to help recruit new GPs is being introduced in England this year, it has been announced.

In a letter to practices outlining details of the new GP contract, NHS England said it would ‘repurpose’ £292m of funding currently allocated to primary care networks (PCNs) towards the new GP scheme.

As well as recruiting new GPs, it aims to help increase the number of sessions from GPs already working in practices.

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NHS England said the scheme would help ‘to support clinical same day urgent access in general practice’.

The letter, seen by Nursing in Practice, sets out changes that will be made in general practice under the 2026/27 GP contract, with the full details of the contract set to be published later today (February 24).

And it confirms an investment of £485m into general practice – equivalent to a 3.6% cash growth or 1.4% real terms growth – that will be used to support staff pay rises, QOF changes and ‘cost growth pressures’.

NHS England’s national director for primary care Dr Amanda Doyle said the ‘focus this year is GP capacity’.

She said: ‘GP capacity is the most effective and sustainable way to improve access and patient experience of general practice, particularly in delivering same day access for clinically urgent patients.’

There is no mention within the letter of any direct funding to support the cost of employing practice nurses.

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The letter also mentions plans to amend the rules for PCNs recruiting GPs via the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), by enabling the recruitment of experienced GPs instead of only newly qualified GPs.

Practice nurses were added onto the scheme in February last year, joining nursing associates and advanced nurse practitioners who were already included within the ARRS.

PCNs can claim for staff employed via the ARRS. Previously, concerns have been expressed about the ARRS scheme with the RCN warning the addition of practice nurses move could cause ‘unstable employment’ for the profession.

Additionally, following a survey by our publisher Cogora in September, it was revealed that there were issues with the ARRS scheme which meant it ‘might not have improved all aspects of access’ and that its current structure was sometimes problematic.

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The report stated there was ‘a strong feeling among primary care staff’ that the ARRS funding would be more effective if given directly to practices, rather than to PCNs.

It recommended that the 2026/27 GP contract should move away from the traditional ARRS model and ‘see staff costs ringfenced, with the money given directly to practices’.