GP Challenge Fund opens for bids

A £50m Challenge Fund for GPs to extend patient access through services such as extended opening hours and greater use of online services has opened for applications.

NHS England announced this week that GPs can now apply for the fund, which was first announced in October.

It follows Prime Minister David Cameron’s call for people to be able access their family doctor from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.

The government argues this will reduce pressure on other services, including A&E, which is facing predictions of a ‘winter crisis’ this Christmas.

The Challenge Fund will be run by NHS England, and will include at least nine pilots, or “pioneer sites”, one in each region of England, to develop and share best practice.

Guidance issued on bidding to the fund says services may include greater use of technology to provide alternatives to face to face consultations, such as phone, email, webcam and instant messaging.

They will also work on giving patients better access to telecare and healthy living apps.

The fund is open to all GP practices that are interested in testing the innovations and expressions of interest must be submitted by 14 February 2014. The pilot sites will be announced in March.

“Applications will need to demonstrate clear, credible plans for delivering benefits to patients on an ongoing basis beyond the lifetime of the pilots,” the guidance says.

“In doing this, they will need to show how the challenge funding would be used on a non-recurrent basis to test new models and prime these sustainable changes.”

Commenting on the Challenge Fund, Dr Mike Bewick, deputy medical director at NHS England, said it provided an opportunity to invest in and use technology and innovation to “open up the way patients can access their GP and the services practices offer.”

“We need to address the calls for more convenient services for patients and we need to make better use of the technology we have at our fingertips,” he said.

NHS England has also established an advisory group to stimulate innovation within the pilot scheme and to advise commissioning bodies on how to commission this in their areas.