Primary Health Care: Recruitment

(asked on 20th December 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Queen’s Speech 2019 background briefing notes, what proportion of the 6,000 new staff in primary care settings will be providing mental health support.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 7th January 2020

Many primary care professionals provide some form of mental health support for their patients. However, it is not possible to estimate what proportion of new staff being recruited to work in primary care settings will be providing such support, as this is dependent on patient demand, local decision making and ensuring patients and clinicians have a navigable system.

The Government is committed to growing the primary care workforce by 6,000 more doctors in general practice and 6,000 other professionals, such as physiotherapists and pharmacists. This is on top of the additional 20,000 primary care professionals NHS England is already providing funding towards recruiting.

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