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Case Study: General Practice
I am proud of all the hard work and dedication from Health Education England colleagues over the last decade that has led to the many achievements to transform the general practice workforce.
From increasing the numbers of postgraduate doctors into GP training to supporting the workforce with the introduction of new roles, the expansion of general practice training and education has been quite extraordinary and lays the foundations for the general practice workforce of the future.
Professor Simon Gregory, Medical Director, Primary and Integrated Care
Summary
When Health Education England was formed in 2013, recruitment to General practice specialty training was challenging, with some areas of the country struggling to appoint any trainees. Since then, a series of innovations have led to an increase in the number of doctors accepting training places to become GPs with all programmes now full. The scale and pace of this expansion has been quite unique.
Impact
Health Education England (HEE) has done much to transform the future general practice workforce over the last decade. We have overseen the biggest ever increase in the number of postgraduate doctors accepting places to train as GPs in England, by over 50 per cent to 4,032 in the last year.
In this time, we have published two seminal reports in support of English NHS General (medical) Practice. The Primary Care Workforce Commission, led by Professor Martin Roland, outlined a vision for team-based primary care led by GPs. By choice - not by chance, led by Professor Val Wass and co-sponsored with Health Education England by the UK Medical Schools Council, has been applied in every English medical school. Both have received international acclaim.
The number of UK graduates going into general practice by choice is set to increase and many excellent international medical graduates are recognising the diverse opportunities available in GP careers. A cohort of additional English medical school students will graduate from the foundation programme in 2025, representing a key opportunity to expand the GP workforce further.
Throughout this decade, our primary care deans and their teams have continued to innovate and to advocate for high quality GP Specialty Training.
In additional general practice specialty training, HEE has supported the development of the multi-disciplinary team, by supporting new roles and improving the recruitment, retention and return of the existing workforce:
- Our General Practice Nursing Workforce Development Plan, Recognise, Rethink, Reform report (2017) set out clear recommendations to improve the recruitment, retention and return of the general practice nursing workforce.
- Supporting the training and recruitment of clinical pharmacists as part of the general practice team to improve value and outcomes from medicines and consult with and treat patients directly.
- Development of the physician associate role towards regulation and supporting recruitment into general practice.
- Development of support for clinicians wanting to pursue a career in primary care. This includes: The First Contact Practitioners and Advanced Practitioners in Primary Care and Roadmaps to Practice.
Future direction
A vision for the future of general practice specialty training has recently been published in the report Training the Future GP - Enhancing Delivery of GP.
It outlines ways to reform the delivery of education to GP trainees, better preparing them for future practice in different models of care - addressing health inequalities, improving technology and enhancing areas of clinical care such as mental health.
The report details opportunities to move to a more flexible model of training that meets the needs, skills and experiences of the trainee, as well as the demands and nuances of local populations.
The recommendations in this report will be taken forward by NHS England’s Workforce Education and Training Directorate.