The Government has this week published the Primary Care Recovery Plan, to improve access to care, better support patients to manage their own health and modernise general practice for the future.
The Primary Care Recovery Plan sets out actions that will mean millions of patients will access faster care for their health needs from their local pharmacy and GP surgery. This includes:
• Tacking the 8am rush. Investing the equivalent of £35,000 per practice to provide new technology for GPs, to make it easier to get through and get a response on the same day.
• Introducing pharmacy first. Investing £645 million to enable pharmacists to provide treatment for common conditions. Pharmacists will be able to supply prescription-only medicines for ear pain; severe sore throat; skin infections and urinary infections. They will be able to start courses of oral contraception.
• Cutting bureaucracy to free up GP time. Freeing up around £37,000 per practice by cutting back targets, improving communication between GPs and hospitals, and reducing GPs having to do work that non-GPs can do. Patients will also now be able to self-refer for some services, including physiotherapy, hearing tests, and podiatry, without seeing their GP first.
• Delivering more appointments and more staff. Ensuring that we have an extra 26,000 clinicians and 50 million extra appointments by March 2024. The upcoming NHS workforce plan will set out plans to expand GP training. Tens of thousands more people will be at lower risk of a heart attack or stroke, with the NHS more than doubling the number of people able to access blood pressure checks in their local pharmacy – 2.5 million, up from 900,000 carried out last year.
Welcoming the news was St Austell and Newquay’s Member of Parliament Steve Double, who said:
“The Government’s announcement of the Primary Care Recovery Plan is welcome news for both patients and those who deliver primary care across Cornwall. While figures show that primary care services are recovering from the unprecedented pressure put on them COVID-19 pandemic, there is always more to do.”
“The targeted measures set out by the Government as part of the Primary Care Recovery Plan deliver this and will be able to make a positive impact on issues people regularly contact me about.”
“I was particularly pleased to see the increased focus on the vital work carried out by our community pharmacy teams – something we have seen successfully piloted in Cornwall since 2022.”
“I will continue to do all I can to work with our NHS to ensure our primary care works for everyone”
The actions set out in the plan are expected to free up around 15 million GP appointments over the next two years for patients who need them most. It will support primary care services to continue to adapt and innovate to meet patients’ needs, with nine in ten people able to access their GP records, including test results, on the NHS App within the next year.
Ending the 8am ‘rush’ for appointments is a key part of the plan, which is supported by investment in better phone technology for GP teams enabling them to manage multiple calls and redirect them to other specialists, such as pharmacists and mental health practitioners, if more suitable. During trials, this has increased patients’ ability to get through to their practice by almost a third.
Extra training will also be provided to staff answering calls at GP practices, so that people who need to see their family doctor are prioritised while those who would be better seen by other staff such as physiotherapists or mental health specialists are able to bypass their GP.
GP teams are already treating record numbers, with half a million more appointments delivered every week compared to pre-pandemic.