As many as ‘a thousand’ new GPs could enter the job market with nowhere to go when they qualify this summer, the BMA has warned the Secretary of State for Health.
In an open letter to Wes Streeting, four chairs of BMA GP committees wrote: “We are expecting hundreds, perhaps as many as a thousand GP registrars completing their training this August who could be left facing unemployment.”
The letter called for ‘ring-fenced, additional, direct-to-practice core funding, to hire newly qualified and currently under/unemployed GPs as practice-based GPs’, separate from the GP-specific ARRS funding.
One GP trainer told the union: “I know some of my trainees are already looking at Australia or Canada as an option. I know some of my colleagues who have left for Canada.”
Another experienced GP told the BMA: “The work availability has dropped off a cliff, worse than the situation was during Covid.”
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “This is an extremely timely, simple and direct appeal to Wes Streeting to take the next step to tackle the current GP employment crisis.
“Not only will it help relieve the plight of existing GPs who are struggling enough to fulfil the minimum number of sessions for NHS appraisal, but it will also start to help make a dent in waiting times for GP appointments.
“Once we’re able to give this reassurance to newly-qualified GPs, further support will be needed for existing GPs. A good first step here would be to redirect all ARRS funding straight to individual practices to allow them to make their own decisions about hiring GPs.”