The new GP contract has guaranteed GMS contract funding uplifts every year on top of funding the indemnity of all GPs and general practice staff.
The long-awaited scheme will mean GPs no longer pay for clinical negligence indemnity out of their own pockets, or for their practice staff.
In a statement NHS England said that ‘all of general practice will be covered, including out-of-hours and all staff groups as well as new recruits’.
This ‘means they won’t pay indemnity cover and they will be protected from future inflated indemnity costs,’ the statement added.
The BMA GP Committee said the new scheme – which starts in April – ‘brings family doctors in line with their hospital colleagues’, as they will ‘no longer have to personally fund clinical negligence cover.’
The announcement today comes with the unveiling of a groundbreaking new five-year GP contract.
Welcoming the new contract, GP Committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said: ‘Crucially, this investment has enabled us to fulfil one of our key aims by once and for all banishing the personal expense of indemnity cover, with a state-backed scheme set to begin, as promised, in April.
‘This will mean that all GPs and practice staff, both in and out of hours, will be covered and represents a major change, freeing GPs from the significant risk of rapidly rising indemnity costs.’
