Health and care sector latest developments
New GP contract published for 2026/27
The government announced the outcome of the GP contract 2026/27 consultation today, with NHS England publishing the changes in a letter to GPs and primary care network clinical directors.
The 2026/27 contract includes a £485 million funding uplift, with £292 million of funding ringfenced for a practice-level GP recruitment scheme. Government estimates this could translate to 1,600 full-time equivalent GPs.
The contract also includes a new requirement that all patients who are deemed clinically urgent by their GP practice must be dealt with on the same day and appointments will be required to take place that day in 90 per cent of cases.
As trailed over the weekend, the contract also strengthens the role of general practice in prevention and neighbourhood health services, including targeted action to improve childhood vaccination uptake, ensuring all those eligible are invited for lung cancer screening through improved data sharing, enabling earlier cancer diagnosis; and a £25 million investment to increase referrals into structured weight‑management and obesity support services.
Responding to the publication of the new GP contract, Dr Duncan Gooch, GP and chair of the Primary Care Network at the NHS Confederation said:
"We are grateful to the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England for involving the NHS Confederation in the consultation exercise to enable us to put across the views of our primary care members. We welcome the additional investment in primary care and the clear intent to stabilise core general practice through funding and streamlining unnecessary workload. After years of sustained pressure, these commitments are both necessary and overdue.
"Primary Care Networks and GP federations may be concerned to see a continued erosion of funding for at-scale provision to improve access and patient experience. Strong, at-scale infrastructure is not a 'nice-to-have', it is absolutely essential now and for the future if neighbourhood health services are to be delivered effectively, sustainably and equitably.”
The contract announcement came on the day of the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers’ Care Closer to Home Conference, where delegates heard from Department and Health and Social Care permanent secretary Samantha Jones, and others.
13 systems have deficit funding withheld
The Health Service Journal has revealed which 13 systems had their deficit support funding (DFS) withheld by NHS England due to concerns. This comes after NHS England’s chief finance officer Elizabeth O’Mahony announced in NHS England’s board meeting earlier this month that 13 systems would have the funding withheld in quarter four, following a review of their month nine positions.
Deficit support funding is allocated by NHS England at the start of the financial year, where they think it can help systems hit breakeven.
NHS England has withheld £133 million of DSF from Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System across 2025/26, around 2 per cent of its total allocation. This represents a larger sum, both in cash terms and as a proportion of its budget, than other systems penalised for not meeting their financial targets to date this year.
The other systems are Kent and Medway, Mid and South Essex, Leicester and Leicestershire, North East London, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Devon, Humber and North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, West Yorkshire and Derby and Derbyshire.
Reform of £10 billion integration fund delayed
Plans to combine the £10 billion ‘Better Care Fund’ (BCF) with ‘neighbourhood’ plans, and to cut mandatory NHS contributions to social care, has been delayed for at least another year.
The government said it would ‘reform the [BCF] from financial year 2026 to 2027’ in the 10 Year Health Plan. The Health Service Journal reports that over the past few months officials have discussed combining it with a new ‘neighbourhood health’ planning process, and possibly cutting the mandatory minimum sum the NHS must put into the fund.
However, a delayed BCF framework for 2026/27, published last week, says only an ‘initial set of changes’ have been made and adds: ‘For this first year of BCF reform, it will not be possible to comprehensively integrate BCF planning and neighbourhood health planning.’
Delays to the publication of national guidance on neighbourhood health and local authority reorganisation have both been point to as reasons for the delay.
US officials laying groundwork to revisit the UK’s drug pricing deal
Politico reports that Donald Trump’s administration will come back for a second attempt to drive up the amount US pharma firms can charge Britain's National Health Service.
Under a UK-US deal announced in December, Britain agreed to ramp up NHS spending on new medicines in exchange for no more threats from the Trump administration on pharmaceutical tariffs.
The UK so far is the only country to have struck such an agreement with the Trump administration, though the legal text has not yet been finalised.
The deal will see Britain increase the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) cost-effectiveness threshold by 25 per cent.
Industry figures have told Politico that the US is pushing for the new VPAG deal to be done one year earlier, than planned before 1 January 2028.
The reports come as the government assembles a new committee to oversee the spending commitments, called the UK commercial review oversight committee. It is expected it will be led by science minister Patrick Vallance and medicines minister Zubir Ahmed.
Health Foundation welcomes Alex Schoenfeldt as its new chief investment officer
Today, the Health Foundation has welcomed Alex Schoenfeldt as its new chief investment officer (CIO).
The Health Foundation is funded by an endowment of more than £1 billion which is invested to generate returns to support their work.
Alex, who has a background in asset management and pension funds, will lead the development and delivery of the Foundation’s investment policy, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the endowment. This includes commitments as a responsible investor, including becoming a carbon neutral investor by 2035.
