Some £7 million will be made available through regional-based schemes to help GPs to stay in the workforce, by promoting new ways of working and by offering additional support through a new Local GP Retention Fund.
A further £3 million will also be made available to establish seven intensive support sites across the country in areas that have struggled most to retain GPs. Details on these sites and plans for retention efforts there will be announced next month.
The fund will support local health services focussing on supporting newly qualified GPs or those within their first five years of practice, who are seriously considering leaving general practice or who are no longer clinically practising in the NHS in England but remain on the National Performers List (Medical).
It is the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at improving patient care by improving GPs quality of work life including:
- The GP Retention Scheme, launched in 2017 to support GPs who, for personal reasons, cannot work more than four sessions per week and when a regular part-time role does not meet the doctor’s need for flexibility. The GP receives financial support and the practice where they are based receives funding to support their continued professional development, supervision and mentoring.
- The GP Health Service, also launched in 2017, is a free and confidential mental health service for General Practitioners and Trainee GPs, who may be experiencing mental health and addiction issues.