The primary care minister has been asked whether he would consider state employment of all general practice staff in a return to the 'Red Book' model of care.

The question was posed by editor-in-chief of our sister title Pulse, Jaimie Kaffash, at the Pulse and Pulse PCN's Live event in London today.

In response, minister Stephen Kinnock said he was going into discussions about the future of general practice looking for a model that 'incentivises, supports and motivates general practitioners to do what they love doing, which is to look after their patients'.

The British Medical Association (BMA) revealed last month that it was pushing the government to agree a ‘full reimbursement mechanism’ for salaried GPs, as per the old Red Book General Medical Services (GMS) contract. GP committee chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer had said this ask formed part of its demands for the wholesale GMS renegotiation that it wants to come into force from 2028.

Currently, many practice pharmacists are employed via the additional roles reimbursement scheme – used by primary care networks (PCNs) to reimburse the cost of some practice roles. Other practice pharmacists are employed directly by the GP practice.

Today, the BMA secured confirmation in writing that the government will 'fully renegotiate the national contract' for GPs by 2028.

Mr Kinnock told GP and primary care network (PCN) attendees that he would not 'pre-empt' those discussions but was 'really looking forward to getting stuck into the broader discussion about the contract'.

'We absolutely want to go in with a discussion that is based on, how do we deliver the best possible outcome for patients in a way that incentivises supports and motivates general practitioners to do what they love doing, which is to look after their patients,' he said.

While 'remuneration is a really vitally important part of that', he added that 'investment must always come with reform'.

'You will not get the best value for money, you will not get the productivity you need, you will not get the efficiency you need, unless everybody signs up to really strong reform programmes as well. And I think we're all singing from the same hymn sheet on that. So I'm confident that we can get to a place where we've got a [GP] contract that works and is actually based on strong foundations,' he said.

Also on the GP contract, Mr Kinnock said: 'We're so pleased that we have managed to get the 25/26 contract agreed.

'The last thing we want to do is to be going around imposing things on people. It's just not the right way to do business as a government.

'We're about partnership, we're about engagement, we're about agreement around a common set of values, aims and objectives, and that is what we want to achieve through these contract negotiations.'

The minister's comments come as MPs this week condemned the 'unacceptable' delay in the pharmacy contract and raised concerns about 'uncertain' Pharmacy First funding beyond April.