Dr Richard Fieldhouse warned ministers this week that new GP funding fails to address the long-term crisis in recruitment and retention, PoliticsHome reported.
“‘Where is the magic locum tree?” Dr Fieldhouse, NASGP’s co-founder and chair, asked.
The funding announcement shows ministers are “clearly panicking and don’t have a plan, because this one is not going to work”.
Health secretary Sajid Javid announced a £250million ‘winter access fund’ after weeks of GP-bashing in the media on Thursday 14 October.
Other GP leaders echoed Dr Fieldhouse’s sentiments.
Dr Ben Molyneux, chair of the BMA sessional GPs committee told PoliticsHome: “The suggestion that this funding will be used to employ locum GPs to increase the number of appointments in surgeries is baffling.”
It is also still unclear how practices will access Javid’s funding.
Dr Richard Vautrey, chair of the BMA’s GP committee, said: “So far, the Secretary of State has not been able to answer these questions, showing how out of touch and ill-thought through the proposals are.”
NHS England said the money can be used to fund ‘locums and support from other health professionals’, Pulse reported.
“Another crisis, another sticking plaster. Every GP knows that chronic lack of investment in the workforce is the problem, so throwing money at like this is not the solution.
“General practice requires highly engaged, agile, motivated locums who have autonomy to use their skills to support practices – exactly what our members have started doing themselves through a growing network of local chambers across the country.
“And we are here, supporting GP locums, who are willing, ready and able to provide a tangible long-term solution to workforce recruitment and retention across primary care. The continued and growing support of our membership is helping us do that.”
