Moves to boost GP numbers not responding to treatment
Want a GP appointment? The UK GP crisis is growing under the Conservative Government.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has admitted the government is struggling to meet its pledge to increase the number of GPs in England by 5,000 by 2020.
There are two schemes aimed at increasing GP numbers and both are failing.
The international GP recruitment scheme has attracted just 58 doctors in more than two years since the GP Forward View promised to bring in more primary care doctors from outside the UK, none of whom can work until at least September. This figure represents just three per cent of the total 2,000 GPs that NHS England has pledged to recruit from outside the UK by 2020 and NHS England are unable to say how many of the 58 GPs currently in the international scheme would be starting work in September.
The Government’s latest announcement on lifting the cap on tier two visa applications for doctors and nurses is not likely to improve the situation dramatically given the hostile environment created by the Government, the Brexit negotiations and the insufficient funding invested in general practice.
The second scheme is the GP retention scheme, asking GPs to remain in the workforce is a major part of the government’s plan to deliver an extra 5,000 GPs by 2020/21 – when the target was set, officials revealed that it would include persuading 1,000 existing doctors to delay retirement or return from career break
But statistics from NHS Digital show that around 5,159 GPs left the profession in 2016/17.
This is equivalent to around 430 a month whilst the GP retention scheme was supporting just 286 GPs in March this year.
Ms Janet Cobb, Edgton
