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
NHS Property Services update February 2021 (24 Feb 2021)
Following a recent legal challenge by the BMA, NHS Property Services (NHSPS) may no longer rely on its charging policy as a sole legal basis to increase charges on practices...Integrated Care Systems, NHS legislation proposals and Standard Contract changes (24 Feb 2021)
Recent weeks have seen a number of NHS structural changes proposed and/or consulted on by NHSE and the Department for Health and Social Care. On 11 February the Government published...Londonwide LMCs' February 2021 Newsletter (24 Feb 2021)
...Changes to insurance cover (23 Feb 2021)
Practices are advised to check the cover provided under insurance renewals following the recent Covid-19 pandemic. We are aware that some insurers are removing cover for claims arising from pandemic...Covid-19 Vaccination Programme (CVP) - sharing the learning (18 Feb 2021)
Londonwide LMCs represents and supports GPs and their practice teams across 27 of London’s boroughs. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic we have been supporting our constituents in a...GP patient survey 2021 (02 Feb 2021)
Patients will be receiving their invitations to take part in the annual national survey about their experiences of local NHS services. The survey is sent to over a million people...EMIS update on Covid-19 vaccination notifications (27 Jan 2021)
EMIS ran a software update on 12 January which means that Covid-19 vaccination data should be automatically filed out in GP patient records. Further information and access to Covid-19 vaccinations...Paper Lloyd George envelopes to cease for first time NHS registrations (27 Jan 2021)
Since the start of January 2021 practices no longer receive a new paper Lloyd George envelope for a first time registration such as a baby or new entrants to the...Meeting London MPs (27 Jan 2021)
This month representatives from Harrow LMC, Camden LMC, Londonwide LMCs staff and local GPs met with Parliamentarians including Bob Blackman MP, Sir Keir Starmer MP and Labour’s health spokesman Jonathan...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.