The British Medical Association (BMA) has accepted government proposals to add practice nurses to the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) as part of negotiations for the 2025/26 GP contract.
The new contract – which is yet to be published in full by NHS England – will see practice nurses added to the main ARRS scheme, but limited to those who have not held a previous post in their current primary care network (PCN), or any other member practices, in the last 12 months.
It will also see the permanent addition of recently-qualified GPs – following a move to temporarily add them last summer.
Related Article: Practice nurses – the ARRS’s collateral damage?
The ARRS is used by PCNs to fund the salaries of some practice staff, now including practice nurses.
Today, the BMA said it had accepted various proposals from the government that it said will see ‘important revisions made’ to the 2025/26 contract for GPs and PCNs.
The proposals represent a ‘crucial step towards recovery’ for practices in England, the BMA added, and includes an £889m uplift in funding for the general medical services contract.
According to the BMA, the increase, which is in addition to a £433m investment applied to the contract last autumn, will provide a 7.2% cash growth in contract funding, ‘helping to fund a range of initiatives to support practices’.
Since the government mooted the addition of practice nurses last December, some among the profession – including the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) – have warned the move could cause ‘unstable employment’ for the profession.
Related Article: Including GPNs in ARRS risks ‘destabilising’ practice workforce
In a briefing paper last week, the RCN accused the government of failing to address long-term pay disparities faced by general practice nurses by instead directing funding through the ARRS.
As part of last year’s contract, the enhanced practice nurse role was added to the ARRS – designed to be a role that delivers ‘enhanced clinical care’ and to act as a ‘clinical role model’ for evidence-based practice.
Related Article: ‘Precarity’ of general practice nursing undermining retention, study finds
Nursing associates and advanced nurse practitioners are also already included within the ARRS scheme.
Following the release of the Cogora General Practice Workforce whitepaper report, Nursing in Practice has published analysis on the impact of practice nurse’s exclusion from ARRS on the profession as a whole.
