RCGP and Patients Association launch joint general practice campaign

The RCGP and Patients Association have launched a joint campaign to bid for resources to improve patients’ experience of general practice.

The joint ‘Solving the maze’ campaign, sets out three ambitions to improve the system, including every patient finding the NHS easy to navigate; every patient being able to see ‘their’ GP when they need to; and patients being able to access their information and track their referrals.

The report, published earlier this week, said this should be achieved in part by ‘clear plans to train, employ and retain enough GPs so that patients can access care from their GP when they need it’, and by addressing workforce numbers, the employment structures and funding models that determine where and how GPs can work’.

‘To make it easier for patients to see a GP who they know and knows them, practices should be resourced to offer continuity of care,’ the report added.

The report, based on surveys of patient focus groups and engagement sessions with GPs, also called for greater ‘co-designing’ between patients and GPs of care pathways and user-friendly IT systems. 

The report concluded both patients and GPs be given the opportunity to create ‘simpler, user-friendly systems which allow patients to see key information about their care, including being able to easily track specialist referrals’ – with a ‘diverse and representative group of patients’ involved in its design. 

This, too, would require ‘significant Government investment in systems that are easier to use, better connected, and that reduce administrative burden’, it added. 

Announcing the campaign, RCGP chair Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown called for a ‘detailed, fully funded plan’ to ‘recruit, employ and retain the GP workforce patients need’. 

She said: ‘It’s been enlightening to work with the Patients Association on this report and reassuring to find out that many of the concerns patients have about general practice, are shared with those working in the service. General practice is the front door to the NHS but it’s clear that too many patients feel that opening that door leads them into a maze.    

‘GPs share this frustration; we see first-hand how bureaucratic and overwhelming it can be and spend considerable amounts of time trying to navigate this maze too – by chasing letters or following up on referrals, for instance. These are valuable hours that could be spent with our patients.

‘The uncertainty of not knowing where they are in the system has come out as a particular concern. We find that when people know how long they’re going to have to wait for care, it’s much easier to deal with than when they are left in the dark. That’s why we want patients to be able to access this information themselves, without having to rely on GP teams to chase it on their behalf.    

‘What is also clear is the need for more GPs so we can offer patients better access to the care we deliver. This isn’t just about quick access, but better access to the continuity of care many patients need, and which GPs are expert in delivering.  

‘Decades of underfunding and poor workforce planning have left GP numbers far behind where they need to be – and it’s our patients who suffer when they have to wait too long, particularly for an appointment with a GP they know and trust, for appointments that are too short.   

‘The Government has committed to “thousands” more GP but we now need to see a detailed, fully funded plan to recruit, employ and retain the GP workforce patients need.’ 

Patients Association chief executive Rachel Power said: ‘Patients have told us clearly what they need: appointments when they need them, enough time to explain what’s wrong, and for those with complex conditions, not having to repeat their entire history every visit.  

‘They want to be able to track their referrals instead of being left in the dark. They want access to information about their own care. And they want to be equal partners in designing the services they rely on – not recipients of systems designed around organisational need.’ 

As part of the 2026/27 GP contract, announced earlier this week, the Government plans to repurpose £292m from PCNs to fund a new practice-level GP reimbursement scheme aimed at new hires and extra sessions. It will also open up the existing PCN-level ARRS scheme to experienced GPs, and not just those that are recently qualified.

Read all of our coverage of the 2026/27 contract here.

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