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.
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.
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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