Summary: How practice funding varies by size, region and type

Pulse analysed the new GP income data for England to understand how funding varies across different regions, according to surgery size and based on rurality versus urban locations.

Here’s a summary of some key findings.

• Size really does matter – but perhaps surprisingly it’s smaller practices that are better off. Practices up to 3,000 patients earned £131 per patient, compared with £126 per patient at the largest practices of 20,000 + patients.
• There was a fairly consistent trend of decreasing payments with increasing size – medium-size practices of 3,000 to 7,000 patients received £128 per patient on average while medium-large practices of 7,000-10,000 patients and large practices of 10,000-20,000 patients received £127 per patient.
• As expected, APMS practices earn the most – averaging £167 total funding per patient compared with £132 at PMS practices and £125 at GMS practices.
• Rurality is linked to higher income – rural and dispensing practices earn more than their urban and non-dispensing counterparts, even after taking off dispensing fees. On average rural practices received £134 and dispensing practices £132 total funding per patient – compared with £126 at both urban and non-dispensing practices.
• Our analysis also found huge variation by region – top earners were Cheshire and Merseyside, with £144 per patient, while the lowest income was received in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Thames Valley, at £119 per patient.

Read the full analysis of all the data here.