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Dr Curran and Partners – Clinical Update 11 May 2023

 

This week, the government published its recovery plan for NHS general practice in England. Thanks to Pulse for the excellent summary. The key areas in the recovery plan include:

1. Patient triage

Provide general practices with digital tools and care navigation training for ‘Modern General Practice Access’ and offer funding to practices that agree to adopt this approach before March 2025.

2. Information Technology

Support general practices on analogue lines to move to digital telephony if they sign up by July 2023.

Enable patients in over 90% of practices to see their records and practice messages, book appointments and order repeat prescriptions using the NHS App by March 2024.

3. Redirecting patients to pharmacy

Launch Pharmacy First so that by end of 2023 community pharmacies can supply prescription-only medicines for seven common conditions.

Expand pharmacy oral contraception and blood pressure services this year, subject to consultation.

4. Self-referral

Ensure integrated care boards (ICBs) expand self-referral pathways by September 2023

ICBs have been asked to put in place:

- direct referral pathways from community optometrists to ophthalmology services for all urgent and elective eye consultations

- self-referral routes to falls response services, musculoskeletal services, audiology-including hearing aid provision, weight management services, community podiatry, and wheelchair and community equipment services.

 5. Workforce

Further expand GP specialty training and make it easier for newly trained GPs who require a visa to remain in England.

Encourage experienced GPs to stay in practice through the pension reforms announced in the Budget and create simpler routes back to practice for the recently retired.

 6. Bureaucracy

Reduce time spent liaising with hospitals – by requiring ICBs to report progress on improving the interface with primary care, in line with recommendations from the Academy of Royal Colleges.

Reduce requests to GPs to verify medical evidence, including by increasing self-certification, by continuing to advance the Bureaucracy Busting Concordat.

 

Key questions

1. How will improving telephone access and online access to records for patients improve access to care?

2. How much workload will pharmacies be able to pick up and will this have a significant effect on GP workload?

3. Will recruitment and retention of GPs, nurses and other primary care staff improve?

4. How can awareness of these changes be raised among patients, particularly those from poorer backgrounds or with limited education and English language skills?

5. We have seen initiatives to improve how secondary care works with primary care in the past but often with little or no success. What will change this time?

 

See https://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/analysis/workload/the-gp-recovery-plan-at-a-glance/

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