Expert Legal Advice for GPs

This article was last updated 0 months ago and may not represent current law.

The legal work I do for GP practices mostly comes down to the partnership agreement, the staff and the contracts the practice signs, including the ones with suppliers who handle patient data. This article goes through each of those and what I can help with.

I should say that I don’t deal with clinical negligence claims or complaints about clinical care, which are matters for your medical defence organisation and indemnity scheme.

GP Partnership Agreements

Without one, the Partnership Act 1890 fills the gaps, and its default rules were not written with a GP surgery in mind. Profits are shared equally whatever sessions each partner works, a partner can’t be expelled by the others, and under section 26 any partner can end the partnership by giving notice to the rest. That last one is the biggest risk for a practice, because the GMS contract is held by the partnership.

A properly drafted GP partnership agreement covers things like:

• Governance and decision-making: how decisions are made, which ones need everyone's agreement, and what each partner is committing to in sessions, holiday and other leave.
• Profit sharing and financial arrangements: profit shares and how they change over time, the capital each partner puts in and when it comes back out, drawings, and who keeps income from outside work.
• Retirement and departure of partners: the notice a partner has to give, how and when they are paid out, what happens to the surgery premises, and when a partner can be required to leave.
• Liability and indemnity: how the partners share liabilities between them, and what indemnity cover each of them has to keep in place.
• Admission of new partners: how a new partner is chosen, what they pay in, when they reach parity, and making sure they actually sign up to the agreement when they join.

Employment Law Advice for GPs

I can help with contracts of employment and staff handbooks, and with advice on the more serious situations, such as a disciplinary which is likely to end in dismissal, a senior member of staff who is leaving, or a settlement agreement. I don’t provide a day-to-day HR service, so the routine side is better handled by your practice manager or an HR provider, with me advising where the legal risk is higher.

Employment law is also changing a good deal at the moment as the Employment Rights Act 2025 is brought into force in stages, so contracts and policies which were fine a couple of years ago are worth looking at again.

Privacy and Confidentiality

• Third-party suppliers: if a supplier such as an IT support company or a software provider has access to patient information, it is likely to be acting as your data processor. Article 28 of the UK GDPR requires a written contract with a processor which contains particular terms, usually called a data processing agreement. Suppliers will often send you their own, and it is worth having it checked before you sign it.
• Patient records and clinical systems: the practice is responsible for keeping records secure, which is partly about the technology and partly about who has access, what your staff are told and what happens if something goes wrong. Your contracts with system suppliers should say who is responsible for what.
• Privacy notices and policies: patients are entitled to be told what you do with their information and why, and your privacy notice and internal policies need to reflect what the practice actually does.

This article covers just some of the legal issues which come up for GP practices. I also advise on practice mergers and on incorporating a practice.

If you’d like help with any of this for your practice, do get in touch.

Written by Steven Mather, a business solicitor acting on company sales and purchases. This is general information about the law, not legal advice on your situation. Law correct as at 7 October 2026.