As we enter the 2026/27 financial year, the NHS has introduced a new national contract that fundamentally changes how every GP surgery in England operates. At WDMC, we want to be transparent about what these changes mean for your care, including the improvements we are striving for and the significant challenges we face in delivering them.
1. Same-Day Urgent Care: The New Priority
The new contract mandates that we provide a clinical assessment and a definitive “outcome” for all urgent requests on the day they are received.
- The Benefit: You will no longer be told to “call back tomorrow” for an urgent medical problem. Every clinically urgent case must now be ‘dealt with’ same day.
- The Challenge: Prioritizing same day urgent care may create a significant drawback for Planned Care, leading to longer waiting times for routine reviews and non-urgent follow-ups. You may also have less choice over which doctor you see for urgent issues.
2. Modern Digital Access (8am to 6:30pm)
Our online consultation systems are now required to remain open throughout our core working hours (8am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays).
- The Benefit: You can contact us digitally at any time during the day without waiting on the telephone, with a guaranteed response or action plan within 24 hours.
- The Challenge: Due to high volume of digital messages, we must ensure that everyone is responded to safely and quickly. Responses may sometimes be brief, involve SMS message or involve follow-up digital forms.
3. Specialist “Advice & Guidance”
For the “Top 10” hospital specialties, GPs are now required to consult hospital specialists digitally before making a formal outpatient referral.
- The Benefit: You receive specialist-led input much faster, often avoiding an unnecessary trip to the hospital.
- The Challenge: A hospital referral may no longer guarantee a specialist appointment. It may be “waiting in Primary Care” longer while the digital conversation(s) between your GP and the Consultant takes place behind the scenes.
4. The Financial Reality
The funding increase to deliver these new changes outlined above is only 1.4p per patient per day. This brings our total funding from this new contract to just 35p per patient, per day to cover your entire medical team, equipment, energy bills, building maintenance etc. To put that in perspective, your daily GP care costs the same as one single loose banana.
How You Can Support Woodland Drive Medical Centre
We are working harder than ever to make these pennies stretch and keep our services safe and viable. You can help us by:
- Choosing the Right Service: Use Pharmacy First for minor ailments to keep GP slots free for complex needs.
- Joining our PPG: Help shape our practice by joining our Patient Participation Group.
- Sharing Your Feedback: We learn from good feedback be it positive or negative. Leaving a Google Review goes a long way in boosting staff morale.
- Being a Care Partner: Please answer our “Care Navigators” when they ask for brief details of your issue; they are trained to get you to the right professional the first time.
Thank you for your continued support as we adapt to these new national requirements.
