Across England, there are many areas which have extremely good track records for GP education, yet due to being historically less popular as a result of their geographical location, they struggle to recruit in the same volume as more desirable areas. In an effort to overcome those challenges, Health Education England (HEE) is set to begin a new recruitment initiative to incentivise GP trainees committing to these areas.
The Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme (TERS) will offer one-off payments of £20,000 to GP Specialty Trainees who commit to working in a select number of training locations in England.
These are areas which have either a past history of under-recruitment or are in under-doctored or deprived areas.
In partnership with NHS England and NHS Improvement, HEE has agreed to provide 500 places across England for 2021/22 – the largest number of places offered under the scheme to date.
Professor Simon Gregory, Deputy Medical Director, Primary and Integrated Care, Health Education England said: “I am delighted to be offering this scheme again that has proven to be so successful in the past few years in encouraging more GPs into this fantastic profession.
“This TERS scheme has grown from 105 places in its first year to 285 places last year and now 500 places will be offered in the next recruitment round.”
Since the TERS scheme began in 2016/17 more than 700 trainee GPs have been recruited to work in areas of the country where vacancies for family doctors have proven hardest to fill.
With committed GP educators, keenly-engaged trainees and vibrant learning opportunities, HEE currently records a 100% fill rate in these areas. More information about the TERS scheme can be found here.
