An immediate expansion of the advice and guidance GP scheme to shift care from hospital to community has been confirmed by the government.
Backed by £80m of funding, its ambition is to help two million people receive faster and more convenient care in their local community by the end of 2025/26.
The scheme involves GPs working more closely with hospital specialists to access expert advice quickly before patients are referred onto waiting lists. It enables patients to get the right tests and treatment through their GP or local services within their community.
The announcement of its expansion comes as new data shows that the scheme was responsible for diverting around 660,000 treatments from hospitals and into the community between July and December 2024.
This is a 60,000 increase on the same period the previous year.
From April 2025, GP practices can now claim for every request raised through the Advice and Guidance scheme.
The expansion of the scheme aims to standardise its use across the country and ensure it is being deployed consistently and is part of the government’s plan to cut long NHS waiting lists and create extra appointments for patients.
The government has pledged that 92% of NHS patients will be waiting less than 18 weeks for treatment after referral to a consultant, by the end of this parliament.
Health Minister Karin Smyth said: ‘By caring for patients closer to home, we save time and stop masses of people having to head to hospital for unnecessary appointments in the first place.
‘We are rewiring the NHS so that we are doing things differently, more efficiently and delivering better outcomes for patients. This scheme is a perfect example of how we are saving patients time and reducing pressure on key NHS services in the process.’
Ruth Rankine, director of primary care at the NHS Confederation, welcomed the expansion.
‘Advice and Guidance, if implemented effectively, can support improved patient care, streamlined referrals processes and efficient use of resources. It can give the patient and their GP more control over their treatment options and support care closer to home,’ she said.
She added that it would ‘deliver more investment in primary and community services to provide more cost-effective support to patients’.
