General Practitioners: Staff

(asked on 6th September 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that general practice surgeries have sufficient staff to remain open.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 28th September 2022

In June 2022, there were an additional 1,497 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors in general practice compared to June 2019. We are working with NHS England, Health Education England and the profession to increase the general practice workforce in England. This includes measures to increase recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encourage them to return to practice.  The updated GP Contract Framework in 2020 announced new retention schemes with continued support for existing schemes.

We have expanded the number of general practitioner (GP) training places. In 2021/22, 4,000 trainees accepted a place on GP training – an increase from 2,671 in 2014. We are diversifying the workforce by recruiting an additional 26,000 primary care staff through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. This will ensure multi-disciplinary teams can provide a range of care options for patients and allow doctors in general practice to treat those with more complex needs. As of June 2022, there were a further 19,000 FTE direct patient care staff working in practices and Primary Care Networks, compared to March 2019.

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