The general practice workforce is currently in crisis. In 2021/2022, there was an estimated shortage of 4200 full-time equivalent, fully qualified, permanently employed GPs in England, with recent surveys suggesting that 71% of GPs in the UK find their job ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ stressful. And the near future looks to be potentially worse — the Royal College of General Practitioner’s 2022 survey reports that 42% of GPs in England are likely to leave the profession in the next 5 years, and The Health Foundation predict that, without any policy action, there could be a one in two shortfall of GPs by 2030/2031.1,2 In an article published in the British Journal of General Practice, we discuss the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan for general practice and assess whether it can provide the policy solutions to mitigate this workforce crisis.
As part of a session on primary care data in the Health Informatics module on the Imperial Master of Public Health Programme, I asked students to work in two groups to present arguments for and against the NHS Care.Data programme. Care.Data is an NHS programme that will extract data from the medical records held by general practitioners (GPs) in England. The Care.Data programme takes advantage of the very high level of use of electronic medical records by GPs in England. After extraction, data will be uploaded to the NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). The data will then be used for functions such as health care planning, monitoring disease patterns and research. The programme has been controversial with proponents arguing that the programme will bring many benefits for the NHS and the population of England; and opponents arguing it is a major breach of privacy. You can view the two presentations to help inform you further about these arguments: Arguments for th
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