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 support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of GPs in Birmingham, Selly Oak constituency.

We are working with NHS England to increase the general practice (GP) workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice.

NHS England has made available several retention schemes available to boost the GP workforce. We have increased the number of GP training places and 2022 saw 4,032 trainees accepting a place on GP training, up from 2,671 in 2014. Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, the number of training places will rise to 6,000 by 2031/32, with the first 500 new places available from September 2025.

Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board advises that primary care is recognised as the cornerstone of the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System (ICS), and that the primary care sector in the ICS has made significant progress over recent years. It has set out key initiatives, including making Birmingham and Solihull a destination for newly qualified doctors and nurses and for existing doctors and nurses to feel valued. The ICS has been cited as an exemplar for the ‘New to Practice Fellowships Scheme’, which offers a two-year programme of support available to all newly-qualified GPs and nurses working substantively in general practice, with an explicit focus on working within and across primary care networks.