England is considerably short of recruiting the thousands of additional primary care staff promised to help relieve pressure on GPs, it was claimed today. Practices and practice networks were due to recruit some 26,000 physiotherapists, pharmacists, counsellors and other supporting clinical staff by 2024, the Guardian reports. It consists of 20,000 planned by NHS England…

More than 300 GPs left the NHS last year – the equivalent of 700,000 patients losing their family doctor, according to the British Medical Association. Warning of an unsustainable staffing crisis, it has released data on both GP workforce numbers and staffing in hospitals, which shows that since September 2015, England has lost more than…

Practices are facing the same post-holiday pressures as hospitals, many of which have declared critical incidents, a leading GP warned today. About 200,000 people are day are being diagnosed with COVID infection as the Omicron variant takes hold. Estimates for staff absences across the NHS range from ten to 15%. Practices meanwhile must maintain care…

Practices have been urged to focus on “clinical prioritisation” amid multiple challenges as the NHS struggles with the Omicron surge. GPs are their staff are now “bracing for impact,” GP leader Dr Farah Jameel warned yesterday. It came as a national shortage of PCR testing left practices unable to certify staff as fit for work.…

Practices managed a record number of appointments, highlighting the “extreme pressures” on services, according to new data. Including vaccinations, practices undertook 34.6 million appointments in November, 26% more than two years previously. Before the pandemic, practices recorded a record number of appointments in October 2019 – 30,054,362, including 24.3 million face to face appointments. Excluding…

Frequent attenders visit practices five times as often as other patients, according to a new UK study, published today. A team at the University of Manchester analysed consulting patterns among the top 10% of consulting patients with: all staff, including admin staff, in the practice; only with GPs; and face-to-face consultations with all staff, and…

Practices in England are to get a significant increase in payments for COVID vaccinations next week as the government seeks to maintain them at a million a day. NHS England has offered £20 a vaccination throughout the holiday week, starting with this Saturday, Christmas Day, it has been revealed. Practices have also been offered relief…