Trainee GPS to get a £20,000 golden hello
Government reward scheme to attract doctors to country and coastal regions with shortages
TRAINEE GPS will be offered “golden hellos” of £20,000 in an attempt to attract them to parts of the country struggling most to find doctors.
The lump sums announced today by the Health Secretary come amid desperate shortages of GPS, particularly in rural and coastal areas, fuelling ever longer waiting times.
Latest figures show 1million patients a week are unable to get an appointment at all, with one in five waiting at least a week to see a GP – a 56per cent rise in five years.
GP vacancy rates have reached record levels, with one in eight posts empty, and increasing numbers of practices giving up attempts to recruit.
Under the deal, every area struggling to attract trainees will be given access to central funds, so they can pay new recruits a £20,000 lump sum on top of £54,000 annual earnings.
The plans, to be announced by Jeremy Hunt, will include a state-backed scheme for GPS’ insurance costs, which have risen amid rising negligence payouts and higher premiums for those working out of hours.
The Government pledged in 2015 to increase GP numbers by 5,000 by 2020. But since then numbers have fallen, with practices closing at a record rate following a rise in GPS retiring early ahead of a tax clampdown on pension pots. GP partners earn more than £100,000, on average, but one in five are over the age of 55, and many are opting for an early retirement. Ministers have already pledged to train an extra 1,500 doctors a year by 2020.
The new plans will mean priority is given to medical schools in areas short of medics, including rural and coastal communities.
And officials will step up efforts to recruit up to 3,000 GPS from abroad, with efforts to “fast track” those from countries such as Australia.
Mr Hunt will tell the Royal College of GPS (RCGP) that the NHS will do more to support the profession, describing it as “under considerable pressure”.
“By introducing targeted support for vulnerable areas and tackling head on critical issues such as higher indemnity fees and the recruitment and retention of more doctors, we can strengthen and secure general practice for the future,” he will tell GPS in Liverpool.
Prof Helen Stokes-lampard, the chairman of the RCGP, welcomed the plans. “We have an incredibly serious shortage of GPS right across the country, but there are some areas that struggle to recruit more than others and often they are in remote and rural areas, so this commitment to incentivise working in these areas is welcome.”
Today, in a speech to 2,000 GPS, she will say family doctors are overloaded, suffering burnout and lack “time to care” for patients.
Warning that loneliness can be as bad for the health as a chronic longterm condition, she will say: “GPS see patients, many of whom are widowed, who have multiple health problems like diabetes, hypertension and depression, but often their main problem isn’t medical: they’re lonely.”