General Practitioners: Disadvantaged
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Carr-Hill formula in allocating funding for GP practices in areas with high levels of deprivation.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock
The Carr-Hill formula aims to ensure that resources are directed to general practices (GPs) based on an estimate of their patient workload. It takes into account many factors under two groups, namely 'drivers of workload' and 'unavoidable costs', including additional needs related to morbidity and mortality, but it does not specifically address deprivation. Plans to review this funding formula may be revisited in future. However, any changes would need careful planning to ensure they do not threaten stability or cause financial uncertainty for GPs.
We are committed to ensuring that primary care medical services receive appropriate support and resources. We recently announced a proposed funding uplift for GPs for 2025/26 of £889 million. This is the largest uplift to GP funding since the beginning of the five-year framework and means a rising share of total National Health Service resources being directed towards GPs.
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