NHS Employers leads negotiations with the General Practitioners Committee (GPC), which is part of the British Medical Association (BMA), on changes to the GMS contract.
The GMS contract was introduced in 2003 and covers three main areas:
- The global sum – this covers the costs of running a general practice, including some essential GP services.
- The quality and outcomes framework (QOF) – this covers the four areas of clinical standards, additional services, organisational standards and patient experience. Practices can choose to provide these services.
- Directed enhanced services (DES) – these cover additional services that practices can choose to provide.
In addition to the above, PCOs can also commission locally enhanced services (LES) to meet local healthcare needs.
Useful links
Latest news - for updates on our GMS contract work and related news, see our latest news pages.
Contract guidance - for the latest guidance, see our web pages on the specific contract areas or our key documents web page. All the guidance documents are available on-line only - download and print contract guidance from our website.
Pandemic flu payments - the national swine flu negotiations have now concluded. For details on the agreement on practice payments, associated guidance and frequently asked questions, see our pandemic flu payments web pages.
