Dear member,
With the general election campaign in progress, parties are starting to publish their plans for general practice if they are elected. The Conservatives announced they would increase the number of GPs in training by 500 a year, from 2021–22, to approximately 4,000 a year. They also plan to increase the international recruitment of GPs and recruit 6,000 more pharmacists, physiotherapists and other GP staff, funded by an additional £300 million. GP trainees would also spend more of their training time in general practice. Read our response >
Labour announced their proposals to expand GP training places to 5,000 each year yesterday, and an extra £2.5 billion would be invested to overhaul the primary care estate. This follows our joint letter to the prime minister in August, calling for urgent action to ensure funding for primary care premises. They have also committed to providing free prescriptions. Read our response >
We await the health proposals from the other parties in this election.
We support the commitments made so far to increase the number of GPs in training; there continues to be an urgent need to address unsustainable workloads and to ensure patients get the care they need. Creating more training places will only deliver a change if these places can be filled. More work needs to be done to encourage doctors to choose general practice as a career. GP retention must be improved and the factors that have led to the continued fall in GP numbers, resulting in previous promises falling short, must be addressed.
We are disappointed that both Conservatives and Labour have so far failed to mention the current pension issues and the need to scrap the pensions regulations that punish doctors for staying in work.
Read the BMA’s manifesto for health >