Why the UK needs to do more for its GPs

Why the UK's recent funding boost for GPs doesn't offer a longterm solution to the staffing crisis facing primary care.

As Winter looms here in the UK, once again we’re hearing about a season of turmoil for the NHS and its patients.

With general practitioners acting as patients’ first port of call, it should come as no surprise that the government is looking at what it can do to alleviate pressures over the coming months. As such, Sajid Javid, the UK’s somewhat rather invisible health and social care secretary, has announced a £250 million package to help GPs boost capacity over the winter and provide more appointments to patients.

One of the caveats? GPs must provide clear plans on how they improve access and deliver more face-to-face appointments.

The reasoning behind Javid’s plan is unclear. During the pandemic, face-to-face appointments in the UK dropped to below 60%, as many practices pivoted towards digital solutions such as telehealth and video conferencing technology to provide care to patients. But that doesn’t mean the service provided to patients was poor - just that it was different. If anything, the adaptive nature of GPs throughout Covid-19 should be applauded rather than vilified.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) words it better. They say that a focus “purely on access” ignores the other challenges doctors face in providing “high-quality, personalised care.”

Personalised care should be the key phrase in this regard. In a time when the digital health industry is continuing to grow, surely it makes sense to utilise the technology we have available in order to provide digital and remote care to patients. Of course, those wanting to attend a practice in person should be able to do so and digital appointments can only help bolster this availability.

It feels as if Javid’s plan is nothing more than sticking plaster for a service that has been bleeding from a lack of staff for years now. Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt knows too well the sector in which Javid now operates. Even he took to social media to call out the government’s plan as nothing more than a temporary fix.

"If anything, the adaptive nature of GPs throughout Covid-19 should be applauded rather than vilified."

That the former health secretary and the RCGP agree on what is needed to help GPs should be taken seriously by Javid. They’re both calling for a long-term solution to the staffing problem the sector has faced for years now.

The government need to stop thinking in reactionary terms and focus on hitting its manifesto pledge of an additional 6,000 GPs by 2025. Crucially, Javid needs to understand that quality of care is not always dictated by its format. The option for GPs to hire locums may help alleviate some of the pressures over the winter but as a long-term solution it simply won’t do.