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As head of the GP taskforce set up to help meet NHS England’s mandate to boost GP trainee numbers, Dr Simon Plint could be set to resolve one of the biggest crises facing general practice.
He says the highlight of his year has been the publication of the group’s recent report, which recommends radical solutions such as incentivising medical schools to increase their proportion of graduates selecting general practice and funding practices up to £20,000 to expand and take on more trainees. He says the report isn’t just ‘looking after general practice’ but ‘looking after the sustainability of the NHS’.
But as postgraduate dean of Health Education Wessex, he says he worries about the ‘work intensity’ affecting trainees in hospital and general practice, ‘which is making them think twice about their futures in the NHS’.
What one thing does he wish he had known before becoming a GP? ‘Being good enough is hard enough, trying to be perfect is stupid,’ he says.
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