Labour: Non-partnership models needed to secure future of general practice
The Labour Party has given the most detail yet about its plans for general practice should gain power at the next election, at a set-piece speech to delegates at the Pulse Live conference.
Speaking to delegates, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth announced a £500m infrastructure fund dedicated to primary care as part of a proposal to spend £5bn a year on the NHS, via a tax rise for the top 5% of earners.
He pledged that general practice would see a rising proportion of the NHS budget - a promise the current Government has yet to achieve.
He acknowledged the ‘intolerable pressures’ that GPs are under, adding that a Labour government would ‘honour the commitment’ to recruit an extra 5,000 GPs - which he pointed out the Government is 'far from being on track' to achieve - looking at how it 'can make general practice more attractive to medical students’.
Mr Ashworth also said Labour would 'explore options with you for the future of the contract and the future of the [QOF] which I think many agree hasn’t delivered as hoped for'.
In a speech spanning a wealth of topics - his first substantive speech on general practice - Mr Ashworth also said Labour would support a widening of the salaried GP workforce.
He said: ‘We support the partnership model where it works and can recruit but equally we are aware that large parts of the country are indeed struggling to recruit GPs.
‘We don’t believe in a one size fits all solution so instead I want to work with GPs to develop models for the future including salaried GP models.’
And he promised Labour would not pursue the Government’s quest for seven-day opening, billing the directive ‘unrealistic’ when ‘the capacity simply isn’t there to deliver it’.
Mr Ashworth said said Labour is ‘is prepared to take the tough decisions for the long term sustainability of the NHS’ by making ‘different choices on levels of taxation’.
Asked where the money was coming from, Mr Ashworth said: ‘We are going to put up tax for the top 5% of earners, the very wealthiest of society, we will ask them to pay more tax.
‘We think the state of the NHS is such that it needs significant levels of investment, and my hunch is that the British public would broadly support increasing taxes to the very wealthiest of society if the yield from that taxation goes to fund the national health service.'
And, as part of plans to support a diminishing practice nurse workforce, he said Labour will reinstate the nurse training bursary which the current Government scrapped, and announced an upcoming review into the primary care workforce to be led by shadow minister for community care Julie Cooper.
On the overall boost to funding, Mr Ashworth said: ‘Given how central primary care is to our future vision of the NHS, absolutely key to our ambitions to tackling ill health and wider heath inequalities in society, general practice will get its fair share of this investment too.’
Readers' comments (15)
Don't believe the hype | GP Partner/Principal28 Mar 2018 5:45pm
So essentially Labour will be taxing existing GPs more to pay for more GPs on lower salaries who then in turn will pay more tax.....nice....will definitely help with retention....not.
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Hawkeye | Locum GP28 Mar 2018 5:58pm
I don't think many Gp's will be in the top 5% of earners anymore ,due to years of pay cuts compared with our legal/dental/accountants peers
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drwho | GP Partner/Principal28 Mar 2018 6:03pm
£100k and above is the top 2% of earners. Most full-time partners I know are well above this.
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Really?! | GP Partner/Principal28 Mar 2018 6:10pm
Everyone uses the health service so how about everyone pays? A tax increase that covers everyone. If it’s only the top 5% that are paying it’s not going to help the FATPOA that already exists.
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Truth finder | GP Partner/Principal28 Mar 2018 6:12pm
Nice spin. Tax us more to lower the asking salaries of GPs. The UK does not value doctors. Any students with good grades will now go somewhere else like the banking industry.
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Prashant Patel | Doctor in Training28 Mar 2018 6:13pm
£70,000 = Top 5%
This will affect not only GP's but also consultants in general
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Vinci Ho | GP Partner/Principal28 Mar 2018 6:27pm
Ha ha ha
Apart from taxing the so called top 5% earners (without details) , most of the policies are just we are talking about on this platform day in day out.
Pretty sure , many politician aides are monitoring Pulse website every f***ing day.
But as I wrote before , the question is whether this could raise the fear factor on the prime minister and her government , serving the 'function' of an opposition party .
Cannot see the prospect of an earlier general election than 2022 at this stage.
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GP is MEGA! | GP Partner/Principal28 Mar 2018 7:00pm
Doctoring only makes sense as a part time job for 2nd earners nowadays given the hourly take home rate compared to alternatives available to those with the skills to get into medicine.
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Hawkeye | Locum GP28 Mar 2018 10:24pm
Looking at adverts for employed gp on this site
Most less than 9k a session =83k gross
I was a partner for 23 years and did not exceed this
Non of my children gone to med school
Why?
Come on accept
Work to death gcse,a level,medical school
Post graduate etc
Not to mention what when nhs gives you a job you hassle involved
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Maverick | Locum GP28 Mar 2018 10:58pm
"This is going to hurt".
Secret diaries of a junior doctor
By Adam Kay.
Essential reading for those currently practising in the NHS and those considering offering themselves up for sacrifice. Please ask your children to read this before applying to medical school....
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Holy Smoke Batman | GP Partner/Principal29 Mar 2018 0:54am
The limits to sovereign government "spend" are TWO
1. The effect of too much money on general prices. Milton Friedman's "demand pull" inflation
2. More importantly, the simple will/desire of the politicians in government. In other words IF governments WANTS to double the GMS global sum tomorrow - it can. The government is the sole legal issuer of money in UK.
Who and how much to tax is likewise a political decision AND NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH the capacity to "spend"
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watchdoc | GP Partner/Principal29 Mar 2018 10:35am
Big and Small is right. No one round here is much bothered as all 1/2 sessions and married to pilots/dentists etc. Sorry but full time GPs from non-affluent backgrounds are needed to make things work.
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GP is MEGA! | GP Partner/Principal29 Mar 2018 10:40am
Watchdoc I think we partially agree but not on the desired outcome! I think potential full time GPs from non-affluent backgrounds should become coders, architects, engineers and robotic designers rather that study medicine in the UK.
They'd be far more likely to develop a satisfying career that way, and will be more likely to outrun the asset price inflation cause by money printing (see Monty above).
Unless of course the funding system changes to include patient contributions at the point of use, in which case full time GP might be a reasonable option for such candidates.
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Robert James Andrew Mackenzie Koefman | GP Partner/Principal29 Mar 2018 11:02am
Phew at least I only have a few years to retirement I pity the future doctors certainly not the profession it was some for the better but majority for the worse especially if going the salaried route. part of the fun is running a business and being entrepreneurial
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David Banner | GP Partner/Principal29 Mar 2018 2:25pm
Well at least Labour are acknowledging the unfolding implosion of the partnership model, and working on a Plan B. The details may be sketchy, but thank God a politician is finally taking notice. And as for raising taxes on the wealthiest, come on, that’s what a Labour government is supposed to do, if you don’t like it vote for someone else.
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