Over 1,500 GPs have been employed using additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) funding but hundreds of PCNs have refused to take part, GP Online reports.
Two out of every five PCNs across England did not recruit GP through the scheme in 2024/25, their analysis suggests.
Government figures show an extra 1,503 GPs have been recruited since the scheme was extended to include GPs.
After sustained pressure from the sector, the government last year agreed to change the criteria to include GPs.
But doctors were in uproar after details emerged, revealing that ARRS funding would not be available to any GP qualified for two years or more.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “This extension of ARRS funding to some newly qualified GPs is only a sticking plaster, and not even a waterproof one. Many of these 1,503 posts will remain filled next year, when a whole new cohort of GPs qualify.
“And it’s telling that still, despite being funded, many PCNs have abstained from the scheme.
“Rather than such a constrained and proscriptive framework, the ARRS scheme should instead be invested into core contract funding to give practices the choice for themselves over how to access flexible GP workforce capacity.”