Withdrawal of financial support available to those undertaking the GMS Collaborative lead role within cluster networks

We have been made aware that from 31/12/26 there will be no financial support available to those undertaking the GMS Collaborative lead role within cluster networks. SBUHB state that the Welsh Government have advised them that they are no longer able to use the SPPC funds to support the GMS Collaborative lead roles and will no longer be able to provide a contributory payment in recognition of their commitment to the leadership role from 31/12/26 and will just be relying on the contractual requirements for the role. The LMC would like to draw practices attention to the following contractual requirement (full wording further down):

(c) contribute to delivering specific cluster-determined outcomes, including engagement in planning of local initiatives through engagement with the cluster via the GP Collaborative lead.

The collaborative GP therefore needs to engage through a GP collaborative lead but there is nothing in the contract that says you have to have a lead from the members or undertake any preparatory work. The LMC understands that the contractual requirements would be met by a rota of allocated GPs undertaking the lead role without involvement in preparatory work, providing participation and attending contractual requirements are met.

The LMC is not aware of any wording in the contract that states that there has to be a GP Collaborative lead nominated from the collaborative membership, nor that practices have to:

• Prepare for and chair four collaborative meetings per annum including time for liaison and preparation (estimated at equivalent of 1.5 sessions p.a.)

• Prepare to attend and feedback to colleagues from the four LCC meetings  (estimated at equivalent of 2 sessions p.a.)    

• Attend four GMS collaborative leads peer support groups to share and gain experience and knowledge. (estimated at 1 session p.a.)

• Action and management of ancillary activity generated via the Cluster Development Team (estimated at equivalent of 1.5 session p.a.)

Contractual Requirements for Professional Collaborative Action(s) 2026 / 27 can be found here:

GMS Prof Collab Practice Contract Requirements 202627 Final.docx

Download DOCX • 6.23MB

The full wording of the relevant 2023 GMS Regulations can be found below:

Duty of co-operation: cluster working

16.—(1) A contractor must comply with the requirements in sub-paragraph (2) where registered patients or temporary residents are provided with services by the contractor's cluster.

(2) The requirements specified in this sub-paragraph are that the contractor must—

(a)co-operate, in so far as is reasonable, with any person responsible for the provision of the services,

(b)comply in core hours with any reasonable request for information from such a person or from the Local Health Board relating to the provision of the services,

(c)agree the mandate for the GP Collaborative representative at cluster meetings and take account of feedback from those cluster meetings,

(d)take reasonable steps to provide information to its registered patients about the services, including information on how to access the services and any changes to them, and

(e)ensure engagement in the planning and delivery of local services, as agreed within the cluster action plan, which includes suitable arrangements to enable the sharing of data, where appropriate safeguards are met, to support the delivery of the services and discussion of cluster funding and budgets.

Membership of a GP Collaborative

17.—(1) A contract must contain a term which has the effect of requiring the contractor to be a member of a GP Collaborative.

(2) A contractor must—

(a)appoint at least 1 health care professional with authority to act on the contractor's behalf in the dealings between the contractor and the GP Collaborative to which the contractor belongs, and

(b)attend at least 4 meetings of the GP Collaborative to which the contractor belongs in each financial year (unless agreed otherwise in writing by the Local Health Board), or appoint a senior practice clinician, or where appropriate a senior administrator, employed by the practice to attend those meetings and to act on the contractor's behalf in those meetings.

Contribution to clusters and GP Collaboratives

18.  A contractor must—

(a)contribute relevant information, including demand and capacity planning, to the cluster Integrated Medium Term Plan via the GP Collaborative, and the contribution must include information on demand and capacity planning,

(b)demonstrate how they have engaged in planning and delivery of local services agreed within the GP Collaborative's contribution to the cluster plan, including evidence of wide partnership, multi-professional/multi-agency working, and development of integrated services, and

(c)contribute to delivering specific cluster-determined outcomes, including engagement in planning of local initiatives through engagement with the cluster via the GP Collaborative lead

Demand and capacity

19.  A contractor is required to engage with a GP Collaborative to assist the collaborative in—

(a)undertaking a population needs assessment of its patients,

(b)analysing the current services available to the GP Collaborative population, identifying any gaps in provision,

(c)analysing the current numbers and skills of the workforce and its development needs,

(d)undertaking a measurement of local health needs as determined by the GP Collaborative, and

(e)providing evidence of the demand and capacity assessment undertaken which is to be evidenced in the GP Collaborative Integrated Medium-Term Plan (Note :- this was subsequently confirmed as being the Cluster IMTP and not a separate Collaborative document)

Activity and Appointment Data

23.—(1) A contract must contain a term requiring contractors to—

(a)maintain their mapped appointments in the relevant section of the Primary Care Information Portal;

(b)review their submission data at least once a month;

(c)ensure the mapped categories are up-to-date; and

(d)ensure their server is at all times switched on, maintained and available to enable the relevant software to extract the data.

(2) The activity and appointment data across the GP Collaborative must be discussed at GP Collaborative meetings by the authorised representatives from the member practices comprising the GP Collaborative, with the aim of developing measures across those member practices to manage demand and standardise good practice and, where applicable, data quality

We advise practices to make a business decision as to whether to participate in the role of GMS Collaborative lead role based on these contractual requirements.