In the autumn of 2023, Management in Practice and our sister title Pulse started receiving reports of GPs being out of work in England. This was a shock; for the past decade the narrative had been entirely around the lack of GPs and practices being unable to recruit. Since autumn 2023, we have heard more and more stories of GPs being out of work. We have reported on locums having to travel from Cumbria to Cornwall to get work. We have heard dire warnings around newly-qualified GPs being left unemployed.
There has been acknowledgement from the Government around this situation. In one of his first acts as health secretary, Wes Streeting announced that newly-qualified GPs would be added to the additional roles reimbursement scheme to prevent a cohort of doctors starting their career unemployed.
But this situation of unemployed GP doesn’t seem to have permeated the public consciousness. The narrative continues to be centred around access issues and, with it, the belief that there is still a recruitment crisis.
This is not a misguided belief, however. Because practices are still short of GPs, and many are still struggling to attract them. So how did we end up with Schrodinger’s workforce crisis: GPs out of work and practices struggling to recruit GPs?
Practice managers are at the centre of having to deal with these challenges at a time of a funding crisis and unfit for purpose premises. And they are doing this at a time when they themselves are understaffed.
A new four-part series from Management in Practice looks into the challenges practice managers face, and the potential solutions.
Released over the next few weeks, we will reveal the staffing numbers across the general practice workforce, including within practice management, giving an overview of which professions have the highest vacancy rates. We will delve into the reasons, as highlighted by practice managers, some GPs are out of work at the same time practices need to recruit.
In addition, the series will reveal the ICB areas where there are fewer GPs and what characteristics – such as funding, deprivation and patient demographics – determine whether a practice is relying on other healthcare staff. We will also ask what effect the ARRS has had on the workforce, the training pipeline and what practices, PCNs and ICBs are doing to alleviate these problems.
This series is based on a major new white paper from the publishers of Management in Practice, Cogora, on the changing general practice workforce in England, in conjunction with the Rebuild General Practice campaign group. Alongside our sister titles – Pulse, Pulse PCN, Healthcare Leader, Nursing in Practice and The Pharmacist – we have surveyed around 2,500 general practice professionals, interviewed more than 100 frontline practitioners, analysed hundreds of data for every practice in England and brought together all the editorial expertise within our titles.
The white paper is being launched at a Parliamentary event tomorrow, which will be attended by MPs, practice manager, GP, nursing, and pharmacy leaders, and numerous frontline GPs.
We are aiming for this report to influence GP contract negotiations, helping make the case for more funding and improved premises for general practice.
Keep an eye on our dedicated section over the next few weeks.
