General Practitioners: Workforce Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Carlile of Berriew
Main Page: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Carlile of Berriew's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(6 years, 9 months ago)
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Lord O’Shaughnessy
The noble Baroness might be interested to note that in 2014, the number of GPs in specialty training was 2,671, and in 2017, it was 3,157—an increase of nearly 400. That is how we are filling the places.
Lord Carlile of Berriew (CB)
Is the Minister aware of the increasing number of inner-city general practices where the entire GP workforce consists of locum doctors because of recruitment problems? Does he agree that that is an expensive way to provide GPs, and one which diminishes the doctor-patient relationship?
Lord O’Shaughnessy
I agree with the noble Lord: we need to crack down on agency and locum spend. That has been falling in recent years. The way we will fix this issue and the demand for general practice in a sustained way is to increase the number of GPs coming into the service, and, as I said, that is exactly what we are doing.