Future GP workforce plans for London
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan commissioned The King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust to undertake an independent analysis of sustainability and transformation plans (STP) in London.
The full 98 page document is availableonline. The most relevant section for London GPs is the section on workforce reproduced below (P73 in the report).
What might this mean for the workforce?
For NHS providers, staff pay costs make up around 65 per cent of operating expenses. It is therefore inevitable that a substantial element of the £3.4 billion savings plans for London will be found through a reduction in expenditure on staff, at least when set against the ‘do-nothing’ scenario.
STPs are in the early stages of working out the impact their savings plans will have on the shape andsize of their future workforce.
Analysts working on STPs in London indicated to us that the figures cited in their planning documents were highly tentative and in places incomplete.
One London STP–North West London–did not provide us with any workforce estimates as the figuresit had provided NHS England in October were being corrected as this report was being drafted.
Across the four STPs that were able to include some early estimates, the reported impact of their combined savings plans was to reduce, in absolute terms, whole-term equivalent staffing numbers between 2016/17 and 2020/21 by 1.4 per cent, or slightly more than 2,000 staff.
This included 3,800 fewer registered nurses, midwives and health visitors (a reduction of 7 per cent against the 2016/17 level) and 600 fewer hospital doctors and dentists (a reduction of 3 per cent).
These reductions would be partially off-set by a projected one-third increase in GP and GP support staff (3,670 extra WTEs). Some STPs are likely to seek to manage these reductions in qualified clinical staff byincreasing thenumbers of trained health care support staff working in the community.
In other workforce news NHS England has announced it intends to recruit 600 overseas GPs by April
2018 in eleven areas including South East and North East London.
Last updated : 19 Sep 2017
Revised data collection regime (19 May 2021)
The General Practice Extraction Service (GPES) is due to be replaced by General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR), which will eventually unify all data extractions pertaining to health...DHSC consultation on proposals to reform regulation of healthcare professionals (19 May 2021)
The Department for Health and Social Care is currently consulting on proposals to reform the regulation of healthcare professionals. In general terms there are a number of positive proposals, particularly...Londonwide LMCs' May 2021 newsletter (19 May 2021)
Proof of vaccination status for travel (18 May 2021)
Patients wishing to prove their Covid vaccination status can do so in two ways, neither of which require the involvement of their GP. The first way is by downloading the...Londonwide LMCs response to NHS England Publication B0497, 14 May 2021 (16 May 2021)
Yesterday evening NHS England issued a letter, which instructs practices to open their receptions for walk in triage and provide in-person appointments unless there is a “good clinical reason”...Shining a light on London’s exceptional general practice nurses (12 May 2021)
To celebrate International Nurses Day 2021, Kathryn Yates, our Director of Nursing asked people for across London general practice to ‘shine a light’ on the contributions of their nursing colleagues...Be ready for unprecedented times – 31 years in NHS nursing (11 May 2021)
Oluwafunmilayo Elizabeth Ayodeji is a Registered General Nurse, an Independent Prescriber and holds a BSC in Clinical Nursing. Elizabeth retired last week and has written this reflection on her time...Being a nurse in GP land during a global pandemic (11 May 2021)
Karen Landi is a GPN at the Speedwell Practice, North Finchley, Barnet. The Coronavirus pandemic has been very challenging at times, meaning we have had to learn to work in...LMC elections 2021 – nominations now open (28 Apr 2021)
Nominations for the 2021 LMC elections are now open. Only LMCs represent every GP practice in their area and every person working within each one. Standing for your LMC means...Covid vaccination guidance – April 2021 (28 Apr 2021)
New guidance issued over the last month largely relates to changes in advice around the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and licensing of the Moderna vaccine. AstraZeneca Lots of guidance...Guidance
We provide expert guidance for practices in our guidance section, as well as an archive of other materials you may find useful.
GP Support
Contact our GP Support team if you need help or advice.
The team provide professional and pastoral support to GPs and practice teams on a broad range of issues.
follow us on...
