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
Paid for travel vaccination activity not covered by state indemnity (16 Jul 2019)
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS Resolution have confirmed that the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice (CNSGP) does not cover the supply and administration of...Patient Access service update - proxy access now available (16 Jul 2019)
Patient Access have recently updated their service to allow proxy access. Proxy access is designed for those who need to use the service on behalf of someone else; this...NHS England premises policy review and NAO report on NHSPS (16 Jul 2019)
On 27 June, NHS England published its premises policy review. The full document is available here. The accompanying NHS England board paper summarises the review’s proposals as follows:NHS England board meeting 27 June 2019 (16 Jul 2019)
The NHS England board meeting on 27 June discussed various aspects of primary care and notable points included: The NHS Standard Contract now require community health services to be...Response to “Digital-First Primary Care” consultation on patient registration, funding and contracting rules (16 Jul 2019)
Responding to the consultation on amendments to the out of area registration rules and other measures intended to support and develop the “Digital First Primary Care” model as outlined in...Primary Care Networks (PCN) update – July 2019 (16 Jul 2019)
The start of this month saw the deadline for primary care networks to be finalised with CCGs. There have been a number of developments since our last newsletter: PCN process...Digital Roundtable event and practice nurse Action Learning Set (16 Jul 2019)
On 3 July we hosted a Digital Roundtable for IT leads and practice managers. Speakers included representatives from the Primary Care Digital Transformation team at NHS England and our own...New Introduction to Practice Finance module for practice managers (16 Jul 2019)
We are pleased to announce our new practice finance module will be going live from September 2019. The module provides a vital update for practice managers looking to improve their...Dr Michelle Drage awarded BMA Medal (16 Jul 2019)
On 26 June at the BMA Annual Representative Meeting in Belfast, Dr Michelle Drage, our Chief Executive, was awarded the Association Medal in recognition of her “distinguished service to the...Viewpoint: LGBT are you in or out? (05 Jul 2019)
Ahead of the London Pride March, Richard Watson, Analytical Manager for the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) looks at inclusivity in the NHS and wider community. Working on the NHS...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.