Editor-in-chief Jaimie Kaffash reflects on the dire state of GP premises, and how your voice can help push for the Government funding that is needed
When I was researching workforce for our white paper on recruitment, the most surprising finding for me was around the state of GP premises. I knew they were bad. But I didn’t quite appreciate how much they are hampered by a lack of space. Practice managers told me they were repurposing toilets as consulting rooms, and many GP partners said they simply don’t have space to house the staff needed.
I appreciate this is only tangentially linked to the story this week on Assura – who own around 600 NHS buildings – being bought by US investment firms. But the interest this story has garnered shows just how big an issue GP premises is.
There is an issue around premises. One commenter pointed out that this is NHS money leaving the UK, while someone said to me this is a bit like the US takeover of Manchester United (and we know how that is going). But I feel as though – in the case of GP premises – the ownership is not really the issue.
Assura’s non-executive chair said this takeover will bring ‘the benefit of additional capital’. But in the case of GP premises, this is almost meaningless. Even if companies had the most altruistic of approaches and genuinely wanted to invest in order to improve the healthcare system, it would still require the Government to commit to this. Because ultimately, in England, all premise improvement schemes have to be approved in some way or other by the NHS – either through grants direct to the premises owner, or a commitment that they will increase the rent reimbursements that follow from improved property.
At the moment, this is only happening in the extreme examples – when a surgery is falling apart, or when there is a huge influx of patients due to population shifts. And even then, practices are lucky to receive much needed funding. This is part over-the-top bureaucracy and part lack of funding. Either way, practices and patients are missing out.
Improving GP premises isn’t as electorally attractive to politicians than 40 new hospitals. But it is just as important. Patient care is being affected. The workforce cannot grow, even if there was the funding to employ new staff.
This has to change. To help create this change, our next white paper will be on the state of GP premises. We will look at what needs to be done, and what the thresholds for funding currently are.
To do this, we need your help. We need you to tell us what your premises are like, what investment is needed, and what hoops you have had to jump through.
Our survey in this subject (and others) is open until Monday, and you can take it here. By taking this survey, you will also be put in a prize draw for tokens worth £200.
We need your voice to be heard – and, by doing so, we will push for GP premises to be given the funding they need.
Jaimie Kaffash is editor-in-chief of Pulse
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Totally agree Jamie- the total fixation with secondary care- waiting list initiatives at the expense of general practice and primary care is frankly baffling- secondary care and are being incentivised to cleanse waiting lists with no cap on the rewards as best I can tell – the investment in secondary care at the expense of primary care by the last government over 14 years needs to be acknowledged as an error the nation should borrow money to invest to save and look at sensible buildings that lend hemselves towards the neighborhood model and allow care closer to home- the digital citizen record Argue by Tony Blair and now catching the ear of Keir Starmer with however increased use of the NHS App and roll out of impressive AI front end enablers will support this