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Latest Medeconomics articles

GP contract: How direct booking from NHS 111 will work

Practices in England will be required to allow direct booking of patients appointments from NHS 111 from April under the new GP contract.

GP contract: More support for practices on GDPR

Under the new contract five-year GP contract practices will receive extra funding to help cover the costs of providing subject access requests (SARs) for free and CCGs will be required to offer a data protection officer to practices.

What practices need to know about state-backed indemnity

The state-backed indemnity scheme for GPs is due to be introduced in April. Medeconomics looks at what it will cover and highlights issues practices should be aware of. This article has been updated to reflect details from the GP contract for 2019/20.

GP contract: Ban on private lists, data on GP waiting times, shared parental leave

The new five-year GP contract will ban practices from holding private lists, introduce new provisions for shared parental leave and waiting times data will be published from 2021.

GP contract: GPs earning over £150,000 from NHS will have to publish income details

All GPs, including GP locums, in England who earn more than £150,000 from the NHS next year will have to make their earnings public, according to the new GP contract.

Changes to vaccinations and immunisations for 2019/20

There are a number of changes to vaccinations under the new GP contract in England from April 2019.

What are the digital requirements of the new GP contract?

All practices in England are expected to offer 'digital-first' primary care to patients under the new five-year GP contract - including online access to health records and online consultations from 2020.

Proxy access to online patient records - updated

Dr Pallavi Bradshaw from Medical Protection explains how practices should deal with online access to medical records for parents, guardians and carers. This article has been updated to include advice on patients who may be vulnerable to coercion.

How will the new network contract DES work?

Under plans set out for the new five-year GP contract, which starts in 2019/20, GP practices are expected to join a network and sign up to a new network contract DES that will begin in July 2019.

QOF changes for 2019/20

Changes to the QOF under the GP contract for 2019/20 will remove 'unnecessary indicators' and introduce a new quality improvement domain.

Changes to the GP contract for 2019/20

The GPC and NHS England have announced details of a five-year contract, described as the 'most significant' contract changes in 15 years. Medeconomics highlights the key points.

News briefing: GP contract, social prescribing and the NHS app

A weekly update on the news that matters for GP practices. This week: GP funding could rise £60m through series of deals, 1,000 social prescribing link workers to be recruited and NHS app launches.

How will primary care networks affect GP practices? Updated

NHS England wants all practices to be part of a primary care network by June 2019, while the NHS long-term plan has suggested that practices will be required to sign up to network contracts in the future.

Details of flu vaccines for 2019/20 in England

GP practices will be able to use just one flu vaccine for all adults in 2019/20 after NHS England released details of the vaccines recommended for use.

Getting your finances fit for 2019: Property matters

In the final part of this three-part review of practice finances, chartered accountants Laurence Slavin and Katie Collin look at issues relating to property.

Getting your finances fit for 2019: Planning for long-term success

In part two of this series, chartered accountants Laurence Slavin and Katie Collin examine the expected income for a practice, succession planning and planning for long-term success.

Getting your finances fit for 2019: Reviewing your finances

In part one of this series, chartered accountants Laurence Slavin and Katie Collin look at reviewing the practice finances with a view to preparing for Making Tax Digital, being ready for possible mergers and ensuring expenses are well controlled.

Final recommendations from the GP partnership review

Practices should be allowed to hold contracts under a limited liability partnership or mutual model to limit personal financial risk for partners and pension rules must change to stop 'perverse incentives' for GPs to cut working hours, a major review of GP partnerships has concluded.