GPs could bring NHS to standstill, warns union

GPs could rapidly bring the NHS to a standstill if they decide to stage their first industrial action in 60 years, the British Medical Association (BMA) has warned.

- ANDY GREGORY

A ballot of family doctors across England will close today, with potentially months of collective action set to start from Thursday amid a row over the new contract for GP services in England in 2024-25.

After a BMA referendum of nearly 20,000 GPs found 99 per cent of them rejected the new contract – which proposes a funding increase of just 1.9 per cent – the union launched a formal dispute over the issue in April, warning many surgeries will struggle to stay financially viable.

Now GPs stand on the brink of what would mark their first collective action since 1964, when family doctors collectively handed in undated resignations to Harold Wilson’s Labour government, which led to major reforms including the Family Doctor Charter of 1965.

Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of the BMA’s England GPs committee, said she aspires to talk to the current government about a Family Doctor Charter 2025 – 60 years on from the original.

“We have moved on so much since then, but I think we need to again agree a set of principles if you want the NHS to be free at the point of use, universal to all, funded through central taxation,” Dr Bramall-Stainer said.