The General Medical Services (GMS) contract is a type of contract that provides for the provision of primary care GP practice medical and surgical services to patients in England. The GMS contract has sub-sections and not all are compulsory. It is negotiated nationally every year between NHS England and the General Practice Committee of the BMA, the trade union representative of GPs in England.

The GMS contract:

• sets out payment conditions for GP practices
• includes requirements for providing Directed Enhanced Services (DES)
• includes for the voluntary Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) programme, which is a system for the performance management and payment of general practitioners (GPs). The QOF aims to reward GPs for providing good quality care to their patients, and to help fund work to further improve the quality of health care delivered.