GPs have been urged to share ideas for how to ‘fix’ general practice in order to shape the Government’s 10-year plan.
Today, the Government has launched a new ‘engagement exercise’ on its NHS plan which invites members of the public and NHS staff to share their experiences and views.
Writing exclusively for Pulse, NHS England primary care director Dr Amanda Doyle called on GPs and their teams to ‘get involved’, saying NHS leaders and the Government ‘must listen’ and put GPs ‘at the forefront of reforming’ the system.
The 10-year plan, announced over the summer, will be informed heavily by Lord Darzi’s recent investigation which said increased general practice funding should be a ‘fundamental strategic shift’ for the NHS.
It will be published in spring 2025, and the Government said today that it will be ‘underlined’ by a shift from ‘hospital to community’, with plans to deliver ‘neighbourhood health centres’ where GPs work under the same roof as district nurses, physiotherapists, health visitors and others.
Writing in Pulse today, Dr Doyle said that there is a ‘real sense of hope’ as this new Government is committed to shifting more NHS resources into primary care.
‘This direction gives general practice lots of opportunities to shape a better, more sustainable future,’ she said.
Dr Doyle noted steps that have already been taken to ‘better support’ general practice, such as the 6% pay uplift for GPs and the expansion of the ARRS – but she recognised that ‘there is more to do to find a long-term and robust solution’ to ‘increasing pressures’.
She said: ‘We will be asking the people who know what matters most to your patients – you – GPs and your teams.
‘We know many solutions to our issues already exist across the health service, and we see examples every day of local teams working together to better join up care for their patients.
‘We need to go further if we are to offer a truly neighbourhood health service, but these examples show our staff are passionate about making a difference, and why we must listen and put you at the forefront of reforming and improving how the NHS works.’
She emphasised the Government’s commitment to increasing primary care resources and warned that ‘the whole of primary care cannot let this opportunity pass’.
‘Your views, experiences and ideas will shape the immediate steps and long-term changes the 10-Year Health Plan will set out to improve the health of our communities and make health services more resilient and more responsive,’ Dr Doyle added.
The engagement online platform is available from today at Change.nhs.uk, and will be live until the start of next year.
Prime minister Keir Starmer said the Government has a ‘clear plan to fix the health service’ but it is ‘only right’ that they ‘hear from the people who rely on the NHS every day to have their say’.
‘We have a huge opportunity to put the NHS back on its feet. So, let’s be the generation that took the NHS from the worst crisis in its history and made it fit for the future,’ he added.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said both patients and staff ‘see first-hand what’s great, but also what isn’t working’ with the NHS.
He said: ‘In order to save the things we love about the NHS, we need to change it. Our 10 Year Health Plan will transform the NHS to make it fit for the future, and it will have patients’ and staff’s fingerprints all over it.’
NHSE chief executive Amanda Pritchard said this is the ‘largest staff engagement exercise in NHS history’ and it will ‘leave no stone unturned’.
The BMA said it would ‘gladly take this invitation to continue engaging with the Government’ on behalf of GPs and other doctors, and will submit a response ‘in due course’.
Council chair Professor Philip Banfield said: ‘Front and centre, we cannot be clearer: we need investment now, especially as we approach winter, and not wait for another review that concludes the obvious about the under-resourcing of public health and healthcare in the UK.’
He also raised ‘several questions’ about the ‘policies floated’ as part of today’s announcement, such as the lack of clarity about how neighbourhood health centres would run and ‘how they would be paid for’.
Professor Banfield continued: ‘GP practices already provide invaluable continuity of care in people’s communities, proven to reduce poor health outcomes and hospital admissions, with family doctors working with a wide range of healthcare professionals.
‘It is not the model that is broken, but lack of investment to keep practices’ heads above water and help GPs and their teams meet patients’ needs that is holding them back.’
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More money is required to get better and more real (actual) GP appointments in Primary Care. Also, in Primary and Secondary care, you often hear from patients who tell us “You never see the same doctor twice”, so where is the joined up continuity with work being duplicated stupidly and not by the same person and long waits getting any appointment to see anyone (let alone the same face). Plenty ‘Prevention’ seems to be done (or overdone and wasteful) already but with so many A and E’s closed and beds closed everywhere in the last 10 or 20 years, it comes as no surprise that people are wanting actual Treatment and prompt appointments, not mere Prevention glorification tactics, the results of prevention often taking many years to be justified. So increase actual treatment and capacity, increase A and E hospitals and beds in secondary care, ( instead of skinflint saving money (which does not work medium or long term, or even short-term) by shutting everything down ). I have heard that Tory Liz Truss wanted to ‘Save Money’ by stopping Cancer treatment in the NHS for several months. Unbelievable.
People are really wanting more treatment and beds: not less. Sadly, more Prevention work alone in the NHS does not deliver, and can be extremely wasteful. Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive, listen and take action, not just increase Prevention: also this applies to Wes Streeting MP, Sec of State for Health, and to Sir Keir Starmer, PM. Actions speak louder than words.
Government-in-waiting for a year or two now and really – no plan? Not hitting the ground running then, Wes? Do you have any idea how disheartening that is? Why have you not sought advice already? And how have you allowed yourself to be captured by the IT geeks? Priorities – 1. Staff/retention. 2, Facilities/estates/equipment. 3. Funding, adequate to achieve 1 and 2. Nothing you have said or done so far makes me feel inclined to change my plans to fully retire in 1-2 years max. 33 years of experience, top of my game, the most efficient and safe patient processor in the NHS, the likes of me. Do something quick before I go, along with 100s like me.