What is private general practice?

Why become a private GP

It can feel like a daunting decision to move away from solely working as an NHS GP and begin to practice privately but there are many benefits to becoming a private GP. These include:

Background to private GP

Since the creation of the National Health Service in the 1940s, the majority of GP services in the UK have been government funded.  

General practitioners are considered the ‘gatekeepers’ of care and play an important role in managing access to specialist hospital based clinicians as well as providing cradle to grave holistic care.

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GP and self employed status

Under the NHS’ current structure, independent (self-employed) general practitioners form partnerships (LLPs) and receive government contracts to deliver primary care services to eligible individuals.  

From 2004 and the APMS contract update, NHS GP services can be run as more typical ‘for-profit’ companies, employing salaried GPs and with shareholders (who could also be GPs) drawing profit.  

GPs and private practice

As part of the earliest NHS contract negotiated between Nye Bevan and clinicians, as self-employed clinicians, general practitioners retained the right to operate private GP services.  

Unlike care delivered under the NHS contracts, care delivered in a private practice context is not government funded - meaning the services must be paid for ‘out of pocket’ by the patient themselves, a parent, employer, insurer or other means.ㅤ