Primary care networks will receive funding for 1,000 GP assistants and 1,250 digital transformation leads ahead of the winter, Pulse reports.
The two roles have just been added to NHS England’s additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS). NHSE’s estimate suggests that funding will cover roughly one of each role per PCN.
GP assistants can write letters, do blood pressure checks, heart rate and blood tests, and arrange appointments, referrals and follow-up care for patients, lifting some of the burden of work from GPs.
Meanwhile digital transformation leads are expected to help practice offer more telephone lines, monitor call response times and offer support with the NHS app.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “Any extra help for GPs is always welcome, particularly if this helps improve efficiency, so the new role of GP assistants is to be welcomed. However, one per PCN is going to make very little difference, with the need to share between practices bringing its own inefficiencies.
“But as welcome as this support is, it still does not tackle the fundamental underlying problem of a dire shortage of GPs in the workforce, and it is concrete plans for that shortage that we need most.
“Any such new role will need to be properly defined with extremely clear protocols for handing over management between each GP and their shared GP assistant, otherwise this attempt to solve one problem may simply cause other problems.
“Meanwhile, we continue to develop LocumDeck to accommodate all primary care staff, making it even more indispensable to primary care.”
