Under the General Medical Services (GMS) contract, GP practices have the option to opt out of providing 24-hour care for their patients. When a practice chooses to opt out, the responsibility for out-of-hours (OOH) care is transferred to an alternative provider, which is commissioned by the local Primary Care Commissioner (Integrated Care Board – ICB).
In Doncaster, out-of-hours primary care services are currently provided by FCMS. This provider is responsible for ensuring patients have access to urgent primary care services during periods when their registered GP practice is closed.
The out-of-hours period is officially defined as:
Practices that choose to opt out of providing out-of-hours services will see a deduction from their global sum funding. For the financial year 2020/21, this deduction was 4.77% of the practice’s global sum. To put this into perspective, in 2019/20, the reduction equated to £4.82 per patient.
GP practices should carefully consider the implications of opting out, balancing workload, financial sustainability, and the needs of their patient population. The LMC is available to support practices in navigating these decisions and liaising with commissioners where necessary.
For further advice or support, please contact the LMC office.