28.01.15
HEE makes general practice plea to medical students
Health Education England (HEE) has urged medical students to consider ‘where they can make the most difference’ in healthcare, with general practice set to grow and develop in the future.
The news comes the same week that NHS England announced a £10m investment to kick-start a new plan to expand the general practice workforce.
Professor Wendy Reid, medical director and director of education and quality for HEE, said: “There has been a steady decline in the number of applications to general practice over the past few years.
“However, HEE has proved that focused action, working with partners, we can reverse those sorts of trends as we have done in Emergency Medicine where we now fill all of our first year specialty training places.”
NHS Alliance chair and GP Dr Michael Dixon writes for the latest NHE on the ‘traditional’ and ‘new’ factors and misperceptions that are turning some young doctors off the idea of general practice.
HEE added that in order to promote general practice it will continue to increase the number of training places to ensure more GPs in the future; is leading a marketing campaign with the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) to set out the attractive options of being a GP; and has set up the induction and returner scheme to bring back experienced GPs.
On top of this, HEE will be working with its independent Primary Care Workforce Commission which will look at the” wider workforce required to deliver the models of the future that will deliver the services that our patients will require.”
Prof Reid added: “I would urge students to look at the future of medical care and see where you can make the most difference. General practice is going to grow and develop and as an area where you can really make a difference to patients as part of a primary care workforce delivering services in the community to support models of care that patients want to see for the future.”
Earlier this week, health leaders unveiled £10m in investment to be used to recruit new GPs, retain those that are thinking of leaving the profession and encourage doctors to return to general practice to better meet the needs of patients now and for the future.
Simon Stevens, chief executive at NHS England, said: “Primary care is the bedrock of the NHS and the Five-Year Forward View makes clear that it will play an even greater role in the future.
“We need greater investment in GP services, extending to community nursing, pharmacy and eye care services. This £10m will kick-start a range of initiatives to drive that forward so every community has GP services that best meets its health needs.”
This funding is expected to help kick-start a 10 point plan, which has been developed by HEE, RCGP and the BMA in addition to existing work to increase the general practice workforce.
Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the RCGP, said: “This action plan is good news for general practice and good news for patients. By tackling the three Rs – recruitment, retention and ‘returners’ – this action plan gives us a real chance to build up the size of our GP workforce that our nation needs. General practice has been under great stress for the last decade, which has meant that family doctors have not been able to deliver the level of service to their patients that they have wanted.”
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