Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report by the Royal College of General Practitioners entitled Fit for the Future: GP Pressures Report 2023, published March 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of that report that (a) 57% of general practice staff said they have not accessed winter support and funding due to a lack of flexibility on how the funding can be used and (b) 35% of general practice staff said they have not accessed winter support and funding because the application process is too lengthy or difficult; and if he will make a statement.

No specific assessment has been made.

In Autumn 2021, the Government and NHS England published a package of measures, and made £250 million available for a Winter Access Fund to support general practices (GPs) and increase capacity. Examples of how the Winter Access Fund was used included additional hubs and helplines, expanding home visiting capacity, and funding additional sessions from staff.

In Autumn 2022, we relaxed funding rules to give Primary Care Networks greater freedom to recruit new roles such as GP Assistants and Digital Transformation Leads, to bolster GP teams, free up clinical time and reduce the administrative burden on GPs.