Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made of the potential effect of the differential pay for GPs working in standard general practices, out-of-hours services, or seven-day-access services on recruitment and staffing levels; and if he will make a statement.

Doctors employed by general practitioner (GP) practices will carry out a variety of different duties depending on the needs of the service locally. We know practices will want to develop a local employment offer which best attracts and retains the staff they need to deliver care and advice to patients. GPs also need to recruit, retain and motivate staff in an affordable way.

However, GP practices are required to employ doctors on terms no less favourable than those agreed with the General Practitioners’ Committee of the British Medical Association and contained in the document entitled “Model terms and conditions of service for a salaried practitioner employed by a GMS practice”.

We continue to explore workforce issues in general practice with relevant stakeholders.