A NEW contract for GPs is crucial to tackling the deepening crisis in general practice, a doctors' leader believes.

Dr Robert Mitchell, chairman of the Bolton Medical Committee, hopes proposed new contracts will tempt more young doctors to become GPs.

But he believes that patients will have to wait years to see the benefit.

He said: "I don't think the patients will get the best deal with these new doctor contracts. It will be more than five years before they see a real difference."

The new contracts promise general practices a 33 per cent funding increase.

Doctors will be able to use the cash to boost staff numbers. They will also be able to regulate how many patients they see each day.

Dr Mitchell, who runs the Great Lever Health Centre, on Rupert Street, has closed to new patients because of an increasing workload.

He has 2,400 patients and believes any more would affect his ability to provide proper care.

For years he has led calls for increased investment in primary care provision.

He said: "The idea behind this move is to reduce the workload so that being a doctor in a general practice becomes an attractive career.

"There will be knock-on effects, but the benefits for patients will be seen within five to ten years."

The new contract for the UK's 36,000 family doctors will bring about the biggest changes in general practice for more than 40 years.

Under the deal, designed to tackle the shortage of GPs and widen the range of services available at surgeries, spending on general practice will rise from £6.1 billion per year to £8 billion by April 2006.

Rewards will be tied to the quality of services GPs provide.

It is not clear how much extra pay doctors will get, but their incomes should rise substantially.

Dr Mitchell said: "This is not about money. I want to see greater investment in the service we provide and that includes the building.

"I operate from poor premises and I have done all in my power to try to increase surgery and administration space, but there has been little response."

Kevin Snee, chief executive of Bolton Primary Care Trust, said that while health investment was important, its top priority was financial recovery.