£250 million winter access fund to improve GP availability

The NHS has published a blueprint for improving access to GP appointments for patients alongside supporting GPs and their teams, backed by a £250 million winter access fund.

NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care say that surgeries will be provided with additional funding to boost their capacity to increase the proportion of appointments delivered face to face, as part of a major drive to support general practice and level up performance, including additional efforts to tackle abuse against staff.

The measures include a £250 million winter access fund from NHS England which will enable GP practices to improve availability so that patients who need care can get it, often on the same day if needed. The investment will fund locums and support from other health professionals such as physiotherapists and podiatrists, with a focus on increasing capacity to boost urgent same-day care.

This is in addition to £270 million invested over the previous 11 months to expand capacity and support GPs.

The NHS England document sets out how every GP practice must seek patients’ input and respect preferences for face to face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary.

It is hoped that the investment will enable local health systems to be free to determine how best to tackle particular challenges to access and provision of care in their own community, which could include putting in place additional resource for walk-in consultations. Local plans will need to deliver these improvements in access, with practices that do not provide appropriate levels of face to face care not able to access the additional funding, and instead offered support to improve.

Under the plan, the NHS will also support upgrades to telephone systems, ensuring that more patients can quickly and easily speak to general practice staff, and help the public avoid long waits when contacting a surgery by phone.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, said: “Improving access to high quality general practice is essential for our patients and for the rest of the NHS too. It is a personal priority and today NHS England is taking both urgent and longer term action to back GPs and their teams with additional investment and support.”

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid said: “I am determined to ensure patients can see their GP in the way they want, no matter where they live. I also want to thank GPs and their teams for their enormous efforts in the most challenging times in living memory.

“Our new plan provides general practice teams with investment and targeted support. This will tackle underperformance, taking pressure off staff so they can spend more time with patients and increase the number of face-to-face appointments. Alongside this we are setting out more measures to tackle abuse and harassment so staff at GP surgeries who work so tirelessly to care for patients can do so without having to fear for their safety.”