GP Surgeries: Repairs and Maintenance
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with ICBs on providing GP practices with (a) clearer and (b) more transparent criteria on the approval process for (i) surgery expansion and (ii) new builds.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future, and we recognise delivering high quality NHS healthcare requires the right infrastructure in the right places.
Surgery expansion and new builds are considered by local integrated care boards (ICB’s) under the auspices of The National Health Service (General Medical Services - Premises Costs) Directions 2024, with further information available at the following link:
This guidance sets out the clear and transparent criteria for the application process and provide the ability for ICBs to invest capital into new primary care premises, which was not supported under earlier versions.
To further support general practice contractors and ICBs, NHS England has published two documents, the Guide to the changes to primary care premises policy document, to provide an overview of the changes to the directions, and the Primary care capital grants policy document, to provide guidance on the investment of capital. Both documents are available, respectively, at the following two links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/guide-to-the-changes-to-primary-care-premises-policy/
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/primary-care-capital-grants-policy/
For this financial year, 2025/26, the Government is providing £102 million of capital investment into upgrading the general practice estate across England in the form of the Utilisation and Modernisation Fund. Using targeted investment to create additional clinical capacity enabling practices to see more patients, boost productivity, and improve patient care. Most of the schemes will involve the repurposing of existing accommodation with a small number of modest surgery extensions.
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