Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of how many GP practices in Fareham and Gosport will lose income as a consequence of the withdrawal of the minimum practice income guarantee; and what actions his Department has put in place to mitigate the impact of any such losses on services.

Both the Government and NHS England consider Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG) payments to be inequitable because practices serving very similar populations get paid very different amounts per patient.

As part of the general practitioner contract settlement in 2013, the Department decided to phase out MPIG payments over a seven year period, starting in the financial year 2014-15. The money released by doing this will be reinvested in the basic payments made to all General Medical Services (GMS) practices.

NHS England advises that there are 16 practices in Fareham and Gosport currently receiving a MPIG payment under GMS contracts. Practices that face particular difficulty are encouraged to contact their local NHS England Area Team to discuss any issues so that they can together plan to mitigate these.