Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Fourth Report - The future of general practice
Health and Social Care Committee
HC 113
Published 20 October 2022
Recommendations
29
Rejected
Para 102
Examine limiting patient list sizes to 2500, reducing to 1850 over five years.
Recommendation
The Government should examine the possibility of limiting the list size of patients to, for example, 2500 on a list, which would slowly reduce to a figure of around 1850 over five years as more GPs are recruited as planned. …
Read more
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation to limit GP patient list sizes, stating that general practices determine their own workforce size and mix, patient care is delivered by a range of health professionals, and significant numbers of additional primary care professionals have already been recruited.
Department of Health and Social Care
View Details →
30
Rejected
Necessity for re-implementing personal lists in the NHS GP contract from 2030.
Recommendation
NHS England should re-implement personal lists in the GP contract from 2030 onwards. (Paragraph 103) General practice and new NHS organisations
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation to re-implement personal lists. It will instead promote continuity of care through the 2023/24 GP contract and the Quality and Outcomes Framework Quality Improvement module.
Department of Health and Social Care
View Details →
38
Rejected
Para 125
Revise Carr-Hill formula and PCN funding to better account for deprivation and high need.
Recommendation
NHS England should revise the Carr-Hill formula to ensure that core funding given to GP practices is better weighted for deprivation. NHS England must also review new PCN funding mechanisms to ensure that they do not inadvertently restrict funding for …
Read more
Government Response Summary
The government partially accepts but rejects immediate revision of the Carr-Hill formula, stating it will not change during the current five-year contract. They note that NHS England keeps funding mechanisms, including PCN funding, under general review.
Department of Health and Social Care
View Details →
Conclusions (3)
12
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 58
NHS England should take further steps to address the administrative workload in general practice, including by introducing e-prescribing in hospitals and focusing on the primary-secondary care interface by encouraging ICSs to provide a reporting tool for GPs to report inappropriate workload transfer.
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, stating it cannot establish requirements for a minimum fair share of administrative duties due to individual contractual arrangements between locums and practices.
16
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 62
As part of ongoing efforts to improve the retention of GPs, NHS England should include a specific focus on encouraging locum GPs back into regular employment by supporting GP practices to offer more flexible working patterns.
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that continuity should be balanced with other PCN expectations, and PCNs should be empowered to make their own workforce decisions rather than having top-down requirements.
17
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 63
Urgent work needs to be done to stop a bidding war for the serrvices of locums and establish requirements for a minimum fair share of administrative duties.
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, arguing that a return to the personal list model is not the correct approach, and reiterates efforts to promote continuity of care through the named GP policy and the RCGP's Continuity of Care toolkit.