Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential policy implications of the Royal College of General Practitioners' report, Tackling the GP workload crisis: From evidence to action on hidden and avoidable workload in general practice, published in April; and which recommendations they intend to implement.

We welcome the findings from the Royal College of General Practitioners’ report, Tackling the GP workload crisis. Many of the recommendations align closely with our ongoing commitment to fixing the front door of the National Health Service by cutting red tape and ensuring general practitioners (GPs) can spend more time treating patients.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our commitment to delivering the recommendations of the Red Tape Challenge, including making improvements at the interface between primary and secondary care. These recommendations also highlight our ambition to improve customer service and experience through better patient communication, support, and navigation, as well as strengthening underpinning infrastructure.

The report also mentions simplifying incentives such as the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF), which, for the 2025/26 GP Contract year, was streamlined significantly, with 32 out of the 76 indicators retired to reduce administrative burden for practices. For the 2026/27 GP Contract year, QOF remains streamlined, with 43 indicators.

We are continuing to work across the Government to better understand where additional burdens are being placed on GPs and, where possible, to remove unnecessary requirements and improve ways of working.