07.10.16
New support designed to speed up GP return to practice
NHS England has announced measures to help GPs cope with mental health problems and return to work as part of the commitments in the GP Forward View.
A £19.5m NHS GP Health Service will be introduced in January 2017, delivered by the Hurley Clinic Partnership and available in 13 areas.
GPs and GP trainees will be able to contact the service online, by phone or using an app, to seek a confidential referral to services including psychotherapy and support for addiction.
A report from the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund earlier this year found that 82% of doctors know a colleague who suffers from mental health problems.
From November 2016, the Induction & Refresher (I&R) scheme, which supports GPs who return to the workforce after a period of absence, will also receive new financial support, including an increase in doctors’ bursaries from £2,300 to £3,500 and an end to assessment fees for first time applicants.
Until October 2018, GPs can also access a £1,250 top-up to assist with the costs of indemnity while on the bursary scheme and a £464 reimbursement for the costs of GMC membership and DBS fees.
The announcement follows a letter from the heads of several charities to Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, the national medical director of NHS England, warning that GPs are being put off returning to work by the cost.
A new national support team, based in Liverpool, will provide a dedicated account manager for each doctor to support them with the practical aspects of the scheme.
NHS England will also develop a national framework so that suitably qualified doctors can return to work without the need to complete the I&R scheme, and assessments will increase from quarterly to bi-monthly so that doctors can complete them more quickly.
Rosamond Roughton, NHS England’s director of commissioning, said: “We are announcing a major step forward in the support we are offering GPs, as part of the commitments and investment we set out in the General Practice Forward View.
“We are responding directly to the concerns of the profession and implementing immediate, practical ways of helping GPs and those returning to a profession that remains one of the most rewarding careers in medicine.”
The GP Forward View is intended to address the shortage in GPs by introducing £2.4bn funding and increasing GP recruitment to 3,250 a year.
NHS England has also released £16m of the £40m Practice Resilience Programme and launched a General Practice Development Programme.
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