BMA launches ‘value of a GP’ campaign to make case for investment

The BMA has launched a campaign outlining the ‘value of a GP’ in a bid to make the case for increased investment in general practice across the UK.

This includes a report published today ahead of the Government’s imminent spending review, setting out the case for why GPs need to be valued.

The report argues that ‘GPs have the expertise to fix general practice and are ready to collaborate with governments to restore it’.

But it said this ‘this requires decisive action from policymakers’, with ‘key steps’ including:

• significant investment in core general practice funding
• prioritising the creation of more GP posts to address the current workforce crisis, and:
• implementing effective retention strategies that improve the wellbeing of GPs.

‘Additionally, making GP partnerships more attractive through reduced liabilities and less micromanagement is crucial to ensure sustainability and improve recruitment, the report said.

‘Only with these high level actions can we stabilise and revitalise general practice. We must value our GPs now- general practice is at a pivotal point. Without urgent action and a change in approach, the system as we know it will disappear. GPs are the backbone of our healthcare, essential to our wellbeing, and absolutely worth investing in. Without them, the system falls apart. It’s time to give them the support they deserve.’

Speaking at the opening of the UK LMC Conference in Glasgow today, BMA GP Committee chair Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer said the document makes the ‘indisputable’ case why investing in general practice makes the most ‘economic’ sense for the Government.

She said: ‘This document makes the indisputable, unarguable economic case for general practice loudly and clearly. Should ignorance have somehow been an excuse, it no longer can be.

‘The report collates robust evidence for general practice to be funded proportionately and fairly, to demonstrate the economic and productivity gains that will follow such investment.’

The conference also unanimously passed a motion which called for ‘a unified campaign across all four nations of the UK’ highlighting the ‘precarious state’ of general practice, which Dr Bramall-Stainer confirmed would take place.

Welcoming the motion, Dr Bramall-Stainer said fixing general practices is ‘going to take an incredible amount of resource’ and ‘a huge amount of workforce’ but that ‘by comparison’ this would be ‘relatively cheap’, with GPs the ‘perfect solution’ for the Government’s problems with the NHS.

‘If Treasury really want to make a difference, and we know that people are motivated by ballot boxes and elections, the next general election is going to be probably three years away. That’s not very long if you want to affect change. And the quickest way to effect change is to give it to those who are the most adaptable, the most innovative, and that’s GP contractors to make that change.

‘So I think what we’ve got here is a wonderful motion. So on the back of this report, we will be launching the four-nation campaign to highlight the value of GPs.’

The Government is expected to complete its long-term spending review this month, and the BMA’s GP Committee for England has previously demanded this should take into account a new wholesale GMS contract.

In March, the health secretary formally committed to a GP contract renegotiation for England, leading to the end to the dispute with the profession in the country although collective action continues locally to improve terms and conditions.