A new report finds that 23% of fully trained GPs now have to be recruited from overseas while more than half of locums have said that they are looking for work.
The new General Practice Workforce report from Cogora highlights both staff shortages in the NHS and a shortage of jobs. It finds that 23% of fully trained general practitioners (GPs) now have to be recruited from overseas while more than half of locums said that work had “dried up”.
The reasons, the report makes clear are “the increasing intensity of general practice sessions, which has forced GPs to – as the GMC puts it – ‘take matters into their own hands’ by reducing hours to improve their own wellbeing and reduce potential risks to patient care.”
The findings came as no surprise to Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP).
“Despite the frustration of both GPs and patients over long waiting times, practices are finding themselves unable to recruit the GPs they need, and GPs are reporting not being able to find appropriate work. This makes no sense,” she said.
While there may be a range of reasons for this at practice-level, she continued, at the heart of this crisis “is the chronic underfunding and poor workforce planning that have plagued general practice for decades”.
Free up ARRS funding
The report, which is sponsored by Howden, recommends freeing up Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) funding which was introduced in 2019.
It points out that the need for more GPs exists alongside a situation where there are GPs out of work. “The reason there are few job vacancies is not that there is less demand for GPs’ services, but that practices lack funding and – increasingly – the premises space to house them,” it says arguing that the ARRS has made non-GP practitioners a far cheaper option.
“When the ARRS was first introduced, there was some justification for limiting the roles PCNs could employ, to protect other areas of the NHS from having staff taken away,” it says.
“The time has come to give general practice owners free rein on who they now employ. Everyone agrees a strong general practice is essential for the NHS to function. If this requires a shift in staff, then so be it,” it continues.
Hawthorne agrees with the findings of the report that practices should spend money in ways that best serve their local populations. “It is simply unacceptable that practices are unable to recruit the GPs they need when so many patients are crying out for our services,” she says.
