A new Pulse survey has found that around 40% of GP partners say their PCN has considered, or has already started, replacing non-GP Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) staff with GPs.
Of 315 GP partners in England surveyed, 23 (7%) said they had already done so and 26 (8%) had started to.
A further 74 (24%) have discussed doing so.
Earlier this month NASGP chair Dr Richard Fieldhouse told GP Online editor Emma Bower that ARRS funding has ‘ostracised’ sessional GPs amidst locum rates falls.
And last month GP Online analysis suggested that hundreds of PCNs have refused to take part in the scheme.
Commenting on the latest story, Dr Fieldhouse said: “It is understandable that so many practices signed up to the ARRS scheme when it was first announced, despite lack of evidence for its effectiveness. But now that we are several years into the scheme, reality is starting to bite.
“Now that its inherent inefficiencies are coming to light, along with concerns about quality and the serious existential threat created by it putting so many GPs out of work, common sense is starting to prevail.
“Because of the ‘sunk cost’ of onboarding so many ARRS staff, if left to its own means, transition back to hiring GPs will be slow. In light of the need being so great, Wes Streeting needs to act swiftly to ensure every practice gets the funding it needs to hire GPs again.”
