Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Conclusion 27
Fourth Report - The future of general practice
Published 20 Oct 2022
Paragraph 100
Addressed to Department of Health and Social Care
Health and Social Care Committee The future of General Practice All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Personal lists are the best way to deliver continuity of care and are therefore an essential component of improving the levels of continuity provided in NHS general practice. We recognise the pressures in general practice but we believe that delivering high levels of continuity will reduce pressure on GPs rather than increase it by enabling them to be more efficient. Moreover, as patients are already The future of general practice 43 assigned a named GP, implementing personal lists in the short term can be a matter of changing consultation habits and patterns rather than requiring a contractual change.
From: Health and Social Care Committee, Fourth Report - The future of general practice (HC 113), paragraph 100, 20 October 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 24 July 2023 (deadline 20 December 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's report and responds to each recommendation, accepting some, partially accepting most and not accepting others.
- It accepts recommendations on distributing GP trainees more equitably, receptionist training and simplifying the patient interface across Integrated Care Systems; it also accepts the call for more back-office organisational support for GPs.
- It "partially accepts" the call for 1,000 more GP training places a year and a four-year scheme: the Long Term Workforce Plan sets an "ambition" to rise from 4,000 to 6,000 places by 2031/32, and there is "no plan to extend GP training beyond three years".
- It does not accept the recommendations to return to personal lists, to cap list sizes, or to fund PCN continuity leads, saying PCNs and practices are best placed to decide their own workforce and approach.
- On a national continuity measure it will "consider how best to measure continuity of care" but says it "would not therefore be appropriate to commit to introducing a measure by 2024".