17 March 2019
We Must Never Give Up on Building the GP Workforce Says College
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, has responded to a new workforce report by The Health Foundation, The King's Fund, and Nuffield Trust.
She said: "We agree with the writers of this report that the GP workforce faces significant challenges, but we disagree that these are insurmountable. We must not, under any circumstances, give up on our aims and endeavours to build the GP workforce – achieving these is vital for the future of the NHS, and patient care.
"The NHS long term plan has aspirations that will benefit patients, but it will need the right workforce to deliver it, and that includes at least 5,000 more family doctors.
"We are extremely grateful to the hard work, skill and dedication of members of the wider practice team - they are pivotal in supporting us to deliver care to over a million patients every day - but they are not GPs and must never be seen as direct substitutes or used to 'fill the gaps' long-term where numbers of GPs are insufficient.
"We have already seen that with effective messages, campaigns and innovative thinking we can get across what a fantastic career being a GP can be with the right resources and support, and we currently have more GPs in training than ever before.
"The forthcoming NHS workforce strategy does need to include plans to expand the multi-disciplinary team in general practice. But it is imperative that it also includes comprehensive plans to further boost GP recruitment, make it easier for trained GPs to return to NHS practice, and to keep existing GPs in the profession longer. Taking steps to reduce workload to make working in general practice more sustainable and removing incentives to retire early for GPs who might not necessarily want to, would be sensible places to start.
"This report also highlights the negative impact cuts to the education and training budget have had in recent years, as well as the inadequate social care budget. It is essential the next - and future - Spending Reviews specifically increase funding for developing the workforce, including for training future GPs. There must be a longer-term plan to ensure the pipeline of staff is there to meet patient needs in the future."
Further Information
RCGP Press office: 020 3188 7633/7574/7575
Out of hours: 0203 188 765
press@rcgp.org.uk
Notes
The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 52,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.