PMS Equitable Funding and Reviews
NHS England has published guidance and an accompanying presentation for its local area teams on equitable funding arrangements and reviews for PMS practices. £325m of “premium” PMS expenditure has been identified by NHS England as the amount by which PMS expenditure exceeds the equivalent items of GMS expenditure. The premium will reduce to £235m over the seven years to 2021/22 as GMS correction factor funding is phased out and global sum funding increases. Area teams will have two years from April 2014 to review their local PMS contracts, with the pace of change on the redeployment of funding following the reviews being left to local judgement. They will invest the premium funding in GP services according to criteria set by NHS England, which are that the investment should:

• reflect joint AT/CCG strategic plans for primary care
• secure services or outcomes that go beyond what is expected of core general practice or improve primary care premises
• help reduce health inequalities
• give equality of opportunity to all GP practices
• support fairer distribution of funding at a locality level.

The guidance gives area teams discretion about how the funding should be invested within these criteria. The GPC’s position is that the premium expenditure should have been redistributed to core GP funding, providing greater certainty for practices and allowing them to invest for the future with greater confidence, for example by employing long-term staff and taking on new partners. In largely leaving decisions about the process and timescales to area teams, the guidance will create further uncertainty for practices and potentially create further inequity between practices in different areas. This position has been made clear to NHS England.

Partnership Changes (LLPs)
The government intends to make significant changes to the taxation of partnerships and partners therein from 6 April 2014. The draft Finance Bill 2014 was published on 10 December 2013 and contained further detail on the proposals. Under current legislation, all partners in an LLP (known as ‘members’) are regarded as self-employed for tax and national insurance contribution (NIC) purposes. The GPC has obtained this advice from a leading firm of tax experts.

Scam Warning
We have been made aware of a potential scam targeting patients in the area. A patient received a call from someone, falsely, saying they were her surgery and advising that they were now able to supply all medication direct without going to the chemist or the surgery. They proceeded to ask what medication the patient was taking in order to update records and then asking for bank details so the patient could pay the delivery fee. This incident was reported to the police and the call was traced to a mailbox number.