AN NHS recruitment drive has resulted in more than 1,500 extra GPs being hired in the last six months, new figures show.
The boost in numbers is hoped to ease pressure on doctors, cut patient waiting lists and end the 8am scramble for a GP appointment, the Government said.
It is part of the Plan for Change initiative and will see 1,503 new doctors join the health service.
It comes as Keir Starmer yesterday announced a new investment of “up to £600 million” by the Government and the Wellcome Trust, a health research charity, in a new health data research service.
The Prime Minister pledged to slash the number of days it takes to set up a clinical trial, from “over 250” to 150, in a bid to strengthen the UK’s medical sciences industry.
The influx of GPs has been made possible after practices were previously prevented from hiring newly qualified GPs, meaning more than 1,000 were due to graduate into unemployment.
At the same time, there were also 1,399 fewer fully qualified GPs than a decade prior.
As part of the changes, the Government invested an extra £82million to allow networks of practices to hire the GPs, with funding set to continue after this year thanks to extra money announced in the Budget.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “Rebuilding our broken NHS starts with fixing the front door. We inherited a ludicrous situation where patients couldn’t get a GP appointment, while GPs couldn’t get a job.
“By cutting red tape and investing more in our NHS, we have put an extra 1,503 GPs into general practice to deliver more appointments.
“The extra investment and reforms we have made will allow patients to book appointments more easily, to help bring back the family doctor and end the 8am scramble.
“It is only because of the necessary decisions we took to increase employer National Insurance that we are able to recruit more GPs and deliver better services for patients. The extra investment and reform this government is making, as part of its Plan for Change, will get the NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future.”
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”NHS patients lined up in A&E corridor” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6367882729112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services, added: “Improving access to general practice is an NHS priority and GP teams are delivering 29 million appointments every month – up a fifth since before the pandemic.
“But we have more to do to make it easier for patients to see their local GP, so practice teams should continue to use this funding to best effect by recruiting more GPs, so more patients can be seen more quickly.”
As part of the Budget, the government looked to provide almost £26billion to get the NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future.
Since July, more than two million extra appointments have been delivered, meeting the government’s target seven months early.
Last year, the department added GPs to the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) and provided extra funding, meaning that GPs could be recruited more quickly by primary care networks (PCNs).
The government has provided an extra £889 million on top of the existing budget for general practice in 2025-26.
The investment comes alongside new reforms to modernise general practice.
GP surgeries must now allow patients to request appointments online throughout working hours from October, freeing up the phones for those who want to book over the phone, and making it easier for practices to triage patients based on medical need.
More patients will also be able to book appointments with their regular doctor if they choose to, to bring back the family doctor.