Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of GP surgeries are rated as Good by the CQC in Wellingborough constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
90% of general practice locations in Wellingborough are currently rated by the Care Quality Commission as Good overall.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that the IT systems used by (a) GPs and (b) community pharmacists enable the provision of one set of patient records.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care announced plans to significantly improve the digital infrastructure between general practices (GPs) and community pharmacies. This will see GPs and community pharmacies viewing and contributing to a single patient record via their respective IT systems. For example, the functionality to update the GP patient record will see pharmacy consultation outcomes arriving directly into the GP’s workflow for review and action, which will be rolled out in April and May 2024. The functionality to view all required information from the GP patient record from within the community pharmacy clinical system, will be rolled out in summer.
Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) support and (b) resources are available to help GP surgeries in Wellingborough constituency to (i) clear patient backlogs and (ii) reduce workloads.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that general practice (GP) services are still under huge pressure, which is why we published our Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care. Our commitment in publishing this plan is to make it easier and quicker for the public to get the help they need from primary care. The plan sets out how we will cut bureaucracy to reduce workload and free up more time for practice teams to meet the clinical needs of their patients.
To achieve this, we are implementing strategies to empower patients to take more control of their healthcare. This involves transitioning towards a Modern General Practice Access model, which includes supporting practices in adopting cloud-based telephony systems, which help GPs to better match their capacity to patient demand. This is backed by £240 million of re-targeted funding for digital tools and training.
We are building additional capacity by diversifying the workforce to include a wider range of practitioners for patients to see, helping free up GP time for more complex cases. This includes an additional 36,523 direct patient care staff, such as pharmacy technicians and physician assistants, since 2019. Additionally, in 2022 a record 4,032 doctors accepted a place on GP training.
We know how implementing changes in GPs will take time, training, and support. That is why from April 2023 the new national General Practice Improvement Programme is supporting GPs to deliver change, with hands on help from a choice of improvement modules that will be tailored to individual practice needs.
The plan is backed up by major investment into primary care services, with up to £645 million over two years to expand the services offered by community pharmacies, with the introduction of Pharmacy First. This has enabled community pharmacists to manage seven common conditions, including the supply of prescription-only medicines without a prescription from a GP. The proposals have the potential to release 10 million GP appointments.
Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to enable the provision of additional services in GP surgeries in Wellingborough constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All practices can opt in to providing Enhanced Services, as well as Direct Enhanced Services for which practices are paid separately from the global sum payment. Integrated care boards, as commissioners of primary care, are responsible for commissioning Local Enhanced Services, which vary in scope and funding to fit the needs of local areas.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding NHS England plans to allocate to Integrated Care Boards for local GP retention schemes for 2024-25; and through what mechanism that funding will be allocated following the closure of the General Practice Fellowship and the Supporting Mentors schemes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2022, we saw the highest ever number of doctors accepting a place on general practice (GP) training, a record of 4,032 trainees, up from 2,671 in 2014.
From April 2024, integrated care boards (ICBs) will take on greater autonomy to make decisions that serve the best interests of local people and communities. This means that, while the General Practice Fellowship and Supporting Mentors schemes will no longer operate in their current national form, NHS England will work with ICBs to put in place support that reflects their local approaches and needs. It will be for ICBs to decide how funding operates at a local level, and the amount of funding they are able to devote to the schemes. NHS England will, however, continue to support people currently on the General Practice Fellowship throughout 2024/25, and ministers will shortly be beginning a series of roundtables with GPs on the future for GP practice, that will also consider ideas for retention and training.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department has taken to support GPs with increases in workloads; and what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of this support.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, published by NHS England in May 2023, sets out actions to cut bureaucracy and workload, which includes reducing demands of general practice (GP) time from unnecessary or low-value asks, improving the interface between primary and secondary care, and significantly streamlining the Impact and Investment Fund by reducing the number of indicators from 36 to five in 2023/24.
We are working with NHS England to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice. NHS England has made available a number of recruitment and retention schemes to boost the GP workforce. This includes the National GP Induction and Refresher scheme, the Return to Practice programme, and the International Induction Programme.
Through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), Primary Care Networks and practices have recruited over 36,000 additional staff including nursing associates, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and social prescribing link workers, hitting the Government's target to recruit 26,000 a year, ahead of the March 2024 deadline. The expanded primary care teams funded through the ARRS not only add extra clinical capacity, helping to reduce the burden on GPs, but also form the basis for multi-disciplinary teams to work on improving the care offered to patients.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve levels of GP retention.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, published by NHS England in May 2023, sets out actions to cut bureaucracy and workload, which includes reducing demands of general practice (GP) time from unnecessary or low-value asks, improving the interface between primary and secondary care, and significantly streamlining the Impact and Investment Fund by reducing the number of indicators from 36 to five in 2023/24.
We are working with NHS England to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice. NHS England has made available a number of recruitment and retention schemes to boost the GP workforce. This includes the National GP Induction and Refresher scheme, the Return to Practice programme, and the International Induction Programme.
Through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), Primary Care Networks and practices have recruited over 36,000 additional staff including nursing associates, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and social prescribing link workers, hitting the Government's target to recruit 26,000 a year, ahead of the March 2024 deadline. The expanded primary care teams funded through the ARRS not only add extra clinical capacity, helping to reduce the burden on GPs, but also form the basis for multi-disciplinary teams to work on improving the care offered to patients.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase (a) awareness of and (b) research investment in postural tachycardia syndrome.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve awareness of postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) amongst healthcare professionals, and specifically general practices (GPs), the Royal College of General Practitioners provides training on PoTS as part of its Syncope toolkit, which is available at the following link:
https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=12386&chapterid=247
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has also produced a clinical knowledge summary, last revised in November 2023, which outlines the method healthcare professionals should follow for diagnosing PoTS. This summary is available at the following link:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/blackouts-syncope/diagnosis/assessment/
GPs are asked to investigate symptoms to ensure that it is not misdiagnosed. Following referral, patients are treated within National Health Service cardiology and neurology services. Where more specialist advice is required, a referral will be made to an appropriate clinician.
Services for PoTS are locally commissioned and, as such, it is the responsibility of the local commissioning teams within integrated care boards to ensure that their locally commissioned services meet the needs of their local population.
The Department invests over £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including PoTS, although it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to support people living with postural tachycardia syndrome.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve awareness of postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) amongst healthcare professionals, and specifically general practices (GPs), the Royal College of General Practitioners provides training on PoTS as part of its Syncope toolkit, which is available at the following link:
https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=12386&chapterid=247
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has also produced a clinical knowledge summary, last revised in November 2023, which outlines the method healthcare professionals should follow for diagnosing PoTS. This summary is available at the following link:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/blackouts-syncope/diagnosis/assessment/
GPs are asked to investigate symptoms to ensure that it is not misdiagnosed. Following referral, patients are treated within National Health Service cardiology and neurology services. Where more specialist advice is required, a referral will be made to an appropriate clinician.
Services for PoTS are locally commissioned and, as such, it is the responsibility of the local commissioning teams within integrated care boards to ensure that their locally commissioned services meet the needs of their local population.
The Department invests over £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including PoTS, although it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is she taking to ensure the compatibility of IT systems used by GPs and pharmacies.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pharmacy First was launched on 31 January 2024. The Department and NHS England will closely monitor the service. Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has commissioned a wrap-around evaluation of Pharmacy First, with a focus on antimicrobial resistance. There are no plans to change this service, which has only recently launched, but if any changes were proposed then we would consult Community Pharmacy England, as the representative body for all pharmacy contractors in England.
General practices (GPs) and their teams already refer patients to community pharmacies for a wide range of services. Pharmacy First, for minor illnesses, is built on the existing Community Pharmacy Consultation Service. NHS England has further engaged with GP representatives during the development and launch of Pharmacy First.
The Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care announced plans to significantly improve the digital infrastructure between GPs and community pharmacies. Pharmacy IT systems already generate automated emails to the patient’s GP following a consultation. We are taking this one step further for Pharmacy First. Later this year, pharmacy IT systems will send information about a Pharmacy First consultation directly into the GP’s workflow. This will be a first for the National Health Service, but will become the norm over time for other parts of the NHS, further reducing bureaucracy for GPs. Pharmacies will also have access to more parts of the patient’s GP record, and referrals will be streamlined.