NHS England has held back from publishing the number of GPs hired via the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), amid conflicting reports.
In a letter to GPs on Friday, NHS England urged all PCNs to ‘use their GP ARRS funding entitlement’ for the current year, while confirming that it is ‘monitoring the data on the number of GPs recruited’.
It further asked all PCNs to inform their ICB of their ‘recruitment intentions’, with ICBs available to ‘work with’ PCNs who have not hired an ARRS GP.
In December, the Government told Pulse that NHS England is currently considering how best to publish data on ARRS GP recruitment, and last week primary care minister Stephen Kinnock said the data is ‘being collated’.
‘We are working to verify the data and establish its reliability, which is necessary before any dataset can be published,’ he told Parliament.
NHSE also told Pulse last week that it still cannot provide a timeline for when the data will be publicly available.
However, the RCGP said last month that of the 1,000 ARRS GP roles available, just over 300 had been filled – a figure which came directly from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), according to college chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne.
And last week, health secretary Wes Streeting said that with the extra £82m of ARRS funding which began in October, the Government has ‘recruited hundreds of GPs to the front line already and will recruit hundreds more in the months to come’.
These figures do not, however, align with recently published NHS data on the PCN workforce, which in December was updated to include GPs funded through ARRS.
The latest dataset, covering November 2024 and published in the following month, put the headcount figure for salaried GPs at 276, an increase of only 96 GPs since September when there were 180.
NHS England’s note on the data said: ‘From October 2024, Salaried GP FTE and headcount figures include GPs funded through ARRS. Before this date, recorded Salaried GP workforce related to the PCN Extended Access DES.’
The national commissioner has declined to clear up this confusion, but its recent letter to PCNs encouraging ARRS uptake confirmed that it is monitoring the number of GPs recruited.
National director for primary care Dr Amanda Doyle said she had ‘heard that uncertainty over whether GP ARRS funding will continue in 2025/26 has been a barrier’ to recruitment of newly-qualified GPs.
She reiterated the health secretary’s confirmation in October that GP ARRS funding will ‘continue beyond March’.
The letter continued: ‘We are encouraging all PCNs to use their GP ARRS funding entitlement in 2024/25 to recruit recently qualified GPs.
‘We are monitoring the data on the number of GPs recruited and will be asking regions and ICBs to work with those PCNs who have not yet taken advantage of the GP ARRS funding and to provide support where required.’
Those PCNs who have not yet hired a GP in the current financial year have been asked to ‘set out their recruitment intentions’ for the remainder of the year to their ICB by the end of this month, the letter confirmed.
The BMA has previously criticised the amount of funding made available for GP salaries under the ARRS, arguing that it is ‘derisory’ and ‘uncompetitive’.
I think the uncertainty stems from the substandard level of funding for a GP role. Let alone that there is no funding to support the employment of newly qualified GPs. 80% of a salary does not cut the mustard NHSE/DH
It looks like someone does not like the data and wants extra time to manipulate it?
I would happily take 80% of a Government Minister’s salary to sleep in the Chamber for 5 years.
Wait for the “Lies,Damned Lies and Statistics.”