Only nine ICBs confirm extra funding for general practice this winter

Exclusive GPs in most areas of England will receive no extra funding to cope with winter pressures, as only nine ICBs have confirmed additional funding for general practice.

In the areas where extra funding has been provided, this is mainly aimed at increasing capacity to deal with acute respiratory infection, in most cases through primary care or urgent access hubs, a Pulse analysis has revealed.

Pulse found that nine ICBs have not provided additional funding for practices this winter, while a further nine have allocated extra resources ranging from £400,000 to £1.9m, and 24 failed to respond to Pulse’s request.

The RCGP said that it was ‘deeply concerning’ that so few ICBs allocated additional winter funding to general practice and warned that practices will struggle to meet demand.  

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB is providing £1.5m of additional funding to PCNs and GP federations working together to provide same day or next day urgent access hubs, for patients who are acutely unwell and able and willing to travel to a hub.  

The ICB said that this will free up capacity within practices to allow GPs to focus on more vulnerable cohorts of patients who are better being seeing in their own practice.  

Similarly, North East and North Cumbria ICB said it is investing £1.5 million to set up acute respiratory infection hubs across the region to provide extra capacity over winter.

In Cornwall, the ICB has allocated an additional £400,000 to creating ‘additional clinical capacity’ across both primary care hubs and individual GP practices, while an additional circa £1.4m of funding has been allocated to practices in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB said it is providing £600,000 to go towards ‘urgent and emergency care acute respiratory infection capacity’.

North Central London ICB has allocated £1.9m for primary care initiatives to increase capacity and manage the additional demand in primary care and A&E. This includes dedicated funding to support increased uptake of seasonal vaccinations.

‘We have also invested in additional appointments for children and young people over the winter months at primary care hubs, providing appointments outside of core general practice hours,’ a spokesperson told Pulse.

And in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin the ICB said that they have allocated £80,000 to some practices to support their schemes aimed at reducing the exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

In Surrey, the ICB has invested an additional £1.4m extra funding into primary care this winter, telling Pulse that this will result in ‘an additional 62,500 appointments’.

Hampshire ICB did not disclose how much extra funding is providing to individual practices, but said that funding to GP practices via PCNs for ‘winter additionality’ has been added into the local incentive scheme (LIS) to deliver ‘additional same day access capacity’.

Past RCGP chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said general practice cannot absorb additional winter demand without ‘proper resourcing’.

She said: ‘Winter pressures affect general practice, just as they do hospitals, so it’s deeply concerning to hear so few ICBs appear to have allocated additional winter funding to our service, despite the well-documented surge in demand we always face at this time of year.

‘GPs and our teams are the first point of contact for most patients and are working under intense workforce and workload pressures without accounting for the increase in prevalence of influenza-like conditions, we’ve already seen this year. Without targeted support, practices will struggle to meet rising need safely. 

‘If general practice is going to play its full role in getting through this coming winter – including by easing hospitals and urgent care – then we need to ensure resources reach the front line. Investing in primary care is one of the most effective ways to keep patients well and out of hospital, but this requires proper, timely funding, not piecemeal or patchy support.’

The Doctors’ Association UK spokesperson Dr Steve Taylor said budgets should be made available in the community, particularly given the Government’s pledge to move more care from hospitals to community.

He said: ‘It’s seems increasingly difficult for ICBs to function effectively with cuts in their funding. Winter pressures are a real problem for hospitals and one of the biggest challenges in the NHS. It seems amazing that given this that there is little or no joined-up thinking.

‘As GPs we would urge Government and NHSE to make sure that funding is available for winter pressures, and not left to GP practices to absorb all the extra work. They cannot do this alone.’

Pulse has contacted NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care for comment.  

Pulse revealed that in 2023 GPs in a small number of areas received local top-up funding to cope with additional winter pressures, but the majority of UK practices saw no support.