The Dispensing Doctors’ Association (DDA) Chairman Dr Richard West has written to Health Secretary Wes Streeting over incoming changes to employers' NI contributions affecting GPs. 

Following confirmation that GPs will not be exempt from the charge announced in the Autumn Budget, the DDA has reacted on behalf of rural dispensing GP practices.

The letter points out that there is no justification for excluding practices from the compensation arrangements announced in the Budget for other NHS bodies. For historic reasons, GP practices are not NHS bodies, but they are classed as public bodies under the Freedom of Information Act.  In addition, they are entirely dependent on funding from the NHS to provide services to patients and will need to fund the increased contributions by reducing patient services and/or by making staff redundant.

Dr West concludes: "General practice is the front door to the NHS. The increases in employers’ NICS and Living Wage could close many of those doors for good."

The DDA also highlights existing financial challenges facing dispensing practices caused by a dispensing contract that has not been changed in over a decade. 

Dispensing practices are urged to copy the letter and send to local MPs, inserting relevant financial details where marked. 

MP contact details can be found online

View the letter