ARRS sees 300 GPs hired since October

Just over 300 GPs have been hired through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) since funding was made available in October, according to the RCGP chair.

Speaking at a Westminster Health Forum event this morning, college chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said her most recent update from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) revealed that of the 1,000 ARRS GP jobs available, just over 300 have been filled.

Professor Hawthorne said this latest update to the RCGP came from Ed Scully, director of primary care at DHSC.

This 300 figure does not tally with NHS England’s most recent PCN workforce data which indicated that there were 202 ‘other GPs’ working at PCNs on a salaried basis, and 85 full-time equivalent (FTE).

However, this data only runs up to 31 October 2024 and has been registering ‘other GPs’ in its figures since December 2022 – well before the introduction of GPs to the ARRS.

Professor Hawthorne said: ‘Of the 1,000 jobs, the last I heard, just over 300 have been taken up.

‘And despite Wes saying in our RCGP conference that these were substantive posts, many PCNs are advertising them up until the end of March 2025 which really isn’t attractive to many people.’

Last month, clinical directors (CDs) said the creation of the GP ARRS role had created a ‘race to the bottom’ due to the amount of funding available for the role.

In a Pulse PCN roundtable in November, CDs said they must make sure the new role was not exploiting newly qualified GPs who are ‘desperate for work’.

They also warned the pay, which works out at around £8,300 per session, could be the new ‘yardstick’ for future GP pay and has done a ‘great disservice’ to younger doctors.

Last month, quarterly figures showed the number of staff employed through the ARRS scheme as of 30 September 2024, prior to the GP funding starting, had fallen compared to the end of March.

There were 36,862 staff working through ARRS as of 30 September 2024, compared to 37,294 at the end of March, with the biggest drop being among care coordinator and pharmacist staff.

A Pulse PCN survey also revealed that PCNs were struggling to recruit pharmacists and advance nurse practitioners through the scheme.

But, a recent study showed that the scheme has the potential to reduce prescribing rates and increase patient satisfaction in primary care.