Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Conclusion 39
Fourth Report - The future of general practice
Published 20 Oct 2022
Paragraph 128
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)
With general practice currently in crisis it is important that GPs are given the headspace that they need to work differently and improve services, or the potential advantages of new Primary Care Networks will not be realised. Giving GPs time to focus on improvement projects is an important component of this, but so too are important back-office functions like HR support and data analytics.
From: Health and Social Care Committee, Fourth Report - The future of general practice (HC 113), paragraph 128, 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".