Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase (a) recruitment and (b) retention of GPs in (i) Streatham and (ii) London.

We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement, Health Education England and the profession to increase the general practice workforce in England, including in London. We have increased the number of general practitioner (GP) training places and in 2021/22, 4,000 doctors accepted a place on GP training – an increase from 2,671 in 2014.

The updated GP Contract Framework announced new retention schemes and continued support for existing schemes for the general practice workforce. These include the GP Retention Scheme, the International Induction Programme, the Return to Practice Programme, the Fellowship Programme, the New to Partnership Payment and Supporting Mentors Scheme.

South East London Clinical Commissioning Group is working with the Lambeth Together Training Hub to support the recruitment and retention of staff in GP practices. These include peer-to-peer support groups, protected learning time events and support for workforce planning to recruit additional roles such as mental health practitioners, physician associates and social prescribers.