10.10.16
General practice at risk of losing £760m under STPs - RCGP chair
General practice risks losing £33m this year and £760m by 2020 due to CCG underspends and the roll out of sustainability and transformation plans (STPs), the chair of the Royal College of General Practice (RCGP) has warned.
RCGP analysis of CCG budgets shows that they are due to underspend their budgets for general practice by £33m this year.
In her speech at the Annual Primary Care Conference, Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the RCGP, said: “This is not loose change down the back of a sofa. It is double what NHS England plan to spend on resilience teams this year and is the same as the amount that is due to be spent on tackling the problem of indemnity. It is real money that could make a real difference.
“The failure to spend money earmarked for general practice on general practice is a national disgrace. And it is high time that CCGs realised that general practice is a vital component of the local healthcare system – not a fringe activity that can be used as a way trimming the fat from their budgets!”
In the GP Forward View, NHS England promised £2.4bn more funding for general practice by 2020 in a bid to ease pressures on the sector. But Dr Baker said that College research has found that few of the 44 new STPs have drawn up plans to boost investment in general practice.
This is despite government pledges to shift resources into the family doctor service, and NHS England guidance that STPs should now be drawing up plans to invest up to £760m of new money into general practice in 2020/21, using the national Sustainability and Transformation Fund – which is currently spent centrally but is set to be shifted to STPs.
“The STPs will play a crucial role in shaping the future development of the NHS over the next five years,” she said. “However, strengthening general practice should be at the heart of what they are about.
“But in many areas RCGP local representatives are struggling against an agenda that is focused on plugging ever increasing hospital deficits.
“This is a false vision which may seem to offer short-term gain, but if general practice isn't supported then there is no system transformation and we will very quickly be back where we started.”
Dr Baker called on Simon Stevens, the CEO of NHS England, to require all STPs to publish their financial plans, and make it clear that they will not receive funding if they do not properly support GPs. In addition, she urged CCGs to provide better support for general practice.
Dr Baker added: “The promises in the General Practice Forward View may be there, but right now the pressures that general practice is under are so great, that it can be hard to believe the vision of a well-funded general practice service at the centre of the NHS is achievable - it mustn’t just be a pipe dream.”
Responding to Dr Baker's speech, an NHS England spokesperson said: “We are working hard to relieve pressures on GPs and this includes increasing funding for general practice by £2.4 billion a year by 2021 – a 14 per cent real-terms increase.
“This demonstrates our commitment to strengthening GP services and as part of these efforts we have highlighted that local areas, through their Sustainability and Transformation Plans, need to set out how they will further support general practice, both now and in the future.”
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