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Golden hellos and training hubs announced for GPs

Fresh recruitment and retention measures to tackle workforce crisis

Newly qualified doctors will be offered ‘golden hellos’ and an extra year of training in an area of interest, as part of efforts to encourage an additional 4,900 trained GPs into the profession by 2020.

Under a £10m investment plan announced by healthcare leaders today, recently qualified doctors who agree to work for three years as a trainee GP in areas of greatest recruitment need, will receive “additional financial support”.

Medical graduates will also be offered a further year of training in a related clinical speciality of interest such as paediatrics, psychiatry, dermatology, emergency medicine and public health, to incentivise them to choose general practice as their training speciality.

NHS England, Health Education England (HEE), the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the British Medical Association (BMA) have come together to fund and launch a number of measures to boost the number of GPs and develop the role of other primary care staff such as nurses and pharmacists.

To raise awareness of the benefits of a career as a GP, a national marketing campaign will highlight the opportunities with a three-minute recruitment film designed to dispel the myth that being a GP is less stimulating and exciting than other medical careers.

Dr Maureen Baker, the chairwoman of the RCGP, said: "Reality programmes and dramas set in hospitals are always fast-paced and thrilling. But programmes about being a GP are very few and far between, and mostly reinforce outdated stereotypes about handing out cough medicine and referring the more difficult cases to consultants. This video - and the GPs who appear in it - show that nothing could be further from the truth."

"While it might be unusual for a medical royal college to make a promotional video, we hope it will make a tangible impact.”

Efforts to retain existing GPs and doctors close to retirement are also outlined under the 10-point plan.

Family doctors with young families who may be considering a career break will be offered a modified workload and support packages so they can work part-time hours in their local practice.

A new ‘returner’ scheme will fund induction and ‘back to work’ training for GPs returning from a career break or working abroad.

New pilot training hubs will offer doctors, nurses and other health staff such as pharmacists the opportunity to develop additional skills in primary care.

Many of the schemes will be piloted in the areas of greatest need around the country.

A report from the RCGP in 2014 revealed that the number of unfilled GP posts had nearly quadrupled in three years, from 2.1 per cent in 2010 to 7.9 per cent in 2013.

“General practice has been under great stress for the last decade, which has meant that family doctors have not been able to deliver the level of service to their patients that they have wanted,” said Baker.

“By rolling out the action plan, we are laying the foundations for a fully reinvigorated and restored general practice, which can deliver excellent patient care in the community and take substantial pressure off our hospitals,” she added.

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