The Government has added GPs to the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS), in the hope practices will be able to hire 1,000 more doctors this year.
Health secretary Wes Streeting has added £82m to the £1.4bn ARRS pot to fund what he described as an ’emergency measure’.
The expansion of the scheme aims to allow practices to hire ‘newly-qualified GPs’ who face potential unemployment this summer and comes as GPs are due to start collective action today.
NHS England said talks to avert GPs taking protest action were ongoing but sister title Pulse understands ballot results are due this morning, with action still planned for today.
Primary care networks (PCN) will only be permitted to use the dedicated funding to recruit GPs, since the £82m will be ‘ring-fenced’ to ensure existing ARRS staff are not impacted.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said this change to the ARRS has been ‘hard fought’ by the BMA and RCGP, as well as many grassroots GPs, including the 11,000 who petitioned for it.
Since its introduction in England in 2019, the ARRS has allowed recruitment of ‘new’ roles in primary care, including clinical pharmacists, physiotherapists, physician associates and most recently enhanced nurses.
But many leading GPs have criticised the scheme, claiming it is a ‘Trojan Horse’ that has resulted in GPs being ‘replaced’ as practices are unable to afford employment of GPs using their core funding.
Earlier this year, the BMA’s GP Committee argued for the inclusion of GPs in the ARRS, saying it could be ‘an obvious solution to practices’.
DHSC has highlighted that the change today is not permanent as it is an ’emergency measure’ for 2024/25, and the Government will work with the profession to ‘identify longer-term solutions to GP unemployment and general practice sustainability as part of the next fiscal event’.
This announcement follows the Government’s commitment earlier this week to increase salaried and partner GP pay by 6%, following the doctors’ pay review body recommendation.
Speaking today on the ARRS expansion, Mr Streeting said it is ‘absurd’ that patient access is still an issue ‘while GPs can’t find work’.
He continued: ‘This government is taking immediate action to put GPs to work, so patients can get the care they need.
‘This is a first step, as we begin the long-term work of shifting the focus of healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to fix the front door to the NHS.
‘I want to work with GPs to rebuild our NHS, so it is there for all of us when we need it.’
In May, the BMA warned that thousands of newly qualified GPs could be unemployed this August due to a ‘nearly non-existent’ job market in some areas.
Unemployment issues have also affected GPs further into their careers, with a recent survey suggesting that more than 80% of GP locums ‘cannot find work’.
NHS England national primary care director Dr Amanda Doyle said it is ‘vital’ GPs are given the ‘the resources’ to manage increasing demand.
She said: ‘Adding General Practitioners to the scheme is something that the profession has been calling for in recent months to make it easier for practices to hire more staff – so I welcome this measure which is an important first step to increasing GP employment in the long-term.’
Dr Doyle added that she will continue to work with the BMA and the Government to ‘avert any potential action’, which was due to start today following the ballot closure on Monday.
A version of this story was first published on our sister title Pulse.
