The government has confirmed a further £200 million investment in GP practice premises as part of its new 10-Year Capital Plan for Health and Social Care, providing a welcome boost for primary care estates across England. The funding is intended to help practices expand and modernise their buildings, increase clinical capacity and create additional appointment space for patients.

FPM members can access a comprehensive selection of policies, templates and toolkits on our flagship FPM Core software.

The Care Quality Commission’s regulatory overhaul has been years in the making, but 2026 is the year the changes truly land in primary care. For GP surgeries, PCNs and ICSs, the new model represents a fundamental shift: from episodic inspections to continuous assessment, from process‑checking to patient experience, and from isolated practice oversight to system‑wide accountability. Our Primary Care Correspondent gives his take.

Every few years, whenever the NHS enters another period of intense pressure, the same suggestion reappears: “Should patients pay to see a GP?” Read on as our primary care correspondent gives their own personal view on the subject. Do you agree?

In this monthly report, FPM looks in detail at what the CQC have publicly reported from their GP practice inspections during June 2026, all anonymised. We highlight some of the behaviours that won practices Outstanding ratings, and the reasons some practices were scored Requires Improvement, or Inadequate. Do you recognise any of the observations the CQC picked up, either good or bad?

Over the past year, since the national launch of Pharmacy First in 2024, community pharmacies have quietly stepped into a much bigger role in frontline healthcare. For many people, this has already meant quicker access to treatment for minor illnesses. But what we’re seeing now is only the beginning — and the next stage is even more significant.

“When the NHS Catches a Cold, General Practice Gets Pneumonia”....If you work in general practice, you already know this truth: every ripple in the NHS becomes a wave that crashes onto our doorstep, writes our Primary Care correspondent.

Over the past few years, general practice has been caught between rising demand, shrinking workforce numbers, and a constant stream of policy initiatives designed to “fix” the problem. The latest of these is the GP Reimbursement Scheme, introduced in May 2026 as part of the updated GP contract. On paper, it looks like a practical way to increase GP capacity. But it may raise as many questions as it answers.

In this monthly report, FPM looks in detail at what the CQC have publicly reported from their GP practice inspections during May 2026, all anonymised. We highlight some of the behaviours that won practices Outstanding ratings, and the reasons some practices were scored Requires Improvement, or Inadequate. Do you recognise any of the observations the CQC picked up, either good or bad?

Recent changes to UK employment law have expanded a number of ‘day-one’ rights, giving employees access to certain statutory protections from the start of employment. These changes mark a clear shift towards increased protection for employees from the very start of their employment, removing many of the traditional qualifying periods employers have relied on.