Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the Government has made towards meeting its target of recruiting 5,000 more GPs by 2020; and if he will make a statement.

In 2015 the Government set the ambitious target to recruit 5,000 additional general practitioners (GPs) by 2020. It was double the growth rate of previous years, but it showed a commitment to growing a strong and sustainable general practice for the future. The government is still determined to deliver this commitment as soon as possible.

The recently published NHS Long Term Plan made a clear commitment to the future of general practice, with primary and community care set to receive at least £4.5 billion more in real terms a year by 2023/24, meaning spending on these services will grow faster than the rising NHS budget. Since the launch of the Long Term Plan, NHS England and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee have agreed a five-year GP (General Medical Services) contract framework from 2019/20. The new contract framework will be essential to deliver the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan through strong general practice services.

NHS England and Health Education England (HEE) are working together with the profession to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why GPs are leaving the profession, and encourage GPs to return to practice.

Last year, HEE recruited the highest number of GP trainees ever and the Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme (TERs) is attracting GP trainees to parts of the country where there have been consistent shortages of GP trainees. Over 500 trainees entered the TERs scheme in 2016-2018 and a further 276 places are available in 2019.

NHS England has a number of schemes in place to reduce workload and improve working conditions for GPs and to support them to remain in the National Health Service including the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the GP Health Service and the Releasing Time for Care Programme.

NHS England has also committed to further expanding community based multi-disciplinary teams and will provide funding towards up to 20,000 other staff in primary care networks by 2023/24. This builds on the non-GP clinical staff already working in general practice, and will mean bigger teams of staff, providing a wider range of care options for patients and freeing up more time for GPs to focus on those with more complex needs.