Pledge to bolster GP surgery staff set to be broken

Health leaders have warned that a manifesto pledge to hire 26,000 extra health professionals to work in GP surgeries is set to be broken by the government.

Approximately 9,500 of the promised physiotherapists, pharmacists, mental health therapists and other clinical staff so far have been recruited to help GPs and practice nurses. Senior doctors have warned that patients will pay the price for the slow delivery of extra personnel by facing persistently long waits for an appointment.

In 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to employ 6,000 more primary care professionals by 2024 to work in GP practices, in addition to the 20,000 that NHS England had already promised in its Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS). The Conservatives said that the extra 26,000 staff, alongside the arrival of ‘6,000 more doctors in general practice’ in a separate pledge, would help GPs and their teams offer 50 million more consultations.

Official NHS workforce statistics highlighted by the Royal College of GPs show that only an estimated 9,464 extra clinical staff had been recruited by September – far short of the 13,000 that should have been in post by then at a rate of 5,200 a year for five years, given the ARRS scheme had begun in March 2019.

NHS workforce statistics show that in September there were still only 14 podiatrists, 38 dieticians and 79 mental health therapists working across the 6,600 GP surgeries in England. There were also just 47 health support workers and 252 health and wellbeing coaches, who advise on lifestyle.

Matin Marshall, the chair of the RCGP, said: “Whilst progress in meeting this target is better than the GP [recruitment] target, it’s still slow and very concerning that this could be another promise that won’t be met. The impact of not having enough staff in general practice is being felt acutely both by GPs and our team members who are working to their limits, and our patients, who are facing longer waits for the care they need. Meeting this [extra staff] target – and the GP target – will be vital to addressing this.”