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Carr-Hill GP funding formula review announced as part of 10-year NHS plan ... our community.’ The current formula is supposed to ensure resources are directed to practices based on an estimate of their patient workload, taking into account ‘drivers of workload’ and ‘unavoidable costs’. But both the RCGP and the BMA have argued for years that it needs to be replaced to accurately reflect the communities that practices care for. In 2015, Pulse revea ... Date: 25-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Healthcare inequalities • Politics • Practice and personal finance
Investing in general practice - if not now, when? ... tters? Patients need timely access to a GP, rather than a plethora of insufficiently-qualified-or-experienced clinicians. GPs need to be protected from inappropriate workload demands. Working conditions need urgently to be improved. Practices need sufficient funding to employ enough staff to safely provide services. And why the push to merge and scale up? Where is the evidence that this improves patient o ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Katie Musgrave
Pharmacy First uptake falling short of expectations, says Kinnock ... nd Social Care (DHSC) is looking at options to increase awareness of the scheme and to 'free up pharmacists to be able to operate at the top of their licence'. The scheme has aimed to shift of workload to pharmacies from GP practices, by allowing direct prescribing for seven common conditions: sinusitis; sore throat; earache; infected insect bite; impetigo; shingles; and uncomplicated urinary tract inf ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Dermatology and wound care • Infectious diseases, immunology and allergy • Respiratory • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics
Over 60% of GPs 'unsatisfied' with Government's handling of general practice ... al practice at the moment – they are working incredibly hard in incredibly challenging circumstances day in day out. ‘Workload has escalated both in terms of volume and complexity since 2019, but numbers of GPs have only just started to show an upturn – and we continue to hear reports from members about the nonsensical situation of GPs being unable to find employment upon completion of their train ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Politics • Practice and personal finance
BMA leaders back GPs declining to prescribe specialist medication ... the medications initiated, titrated and the patient stabilised. Proposing the motion, YOR LMC medical secretary Dr Brian McGregor said: ‘From a general practice perspective, it is a workload transfer – a decision is made in a secondary care service, and then a responsibility is passed to a general practitioner to actually initiate and generate the prescription. And it carries an increased risk. ‘GP ... Date: 23-06-2025 Categories: • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Workload
Dr Heather Ryan: How my own GLP-1 journey has reshaped patient consultations ... ries, takeaways and alcohol).There are also good and bad slimming clinics - GP Facebook groups are awash with stories about clinics inappropriately dumping workload back onto NHS GPs. Some clinics are more rigorous than others when it comes to ensuring patients are good candidates for the drug and are reporting their weight accurately. Before and after: one week of trea ... Date: 23-06-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Guest opinion
Most people think GPs 'do not work hard enough', 'disheartening' survey finds ... conditions. ‘Time and time again, the Government delivers funding that’s tied up in complex structures and attached to complicated conditions and targets, ramping up GPs’ workloads. Despite this year's funding boost, the reality is that GPs will still be overworked and under-resourced – not the opposite. ‘While over half of the public rightly see GPs as an essential part of the NHS, even then, the r ... Date: 20-06-2025 Categories: • Workload
Only half of overseas doctors who moved to the UK say their expectations have been met ... lf of doctors who qualified overseas and moved to the UK said that their expectations had been met, according to new research published by the GMC. Those unsatisfied with the move blamed heavy workload, stress and a poor work-life balance. The research, commissioned by the GMC, surveyed over 3,000 doctors between June and August 2024 who had either moved, or considered moving, to the UK for ... Date: 20-06-2025 Categories: • Workforce
BMA 'increasingly' seeing non-GPs appointed as training programme supervisors ... ingly becoming involved in overseeing some aspects of GP training, including allied health professionals ‘who have never worked as a GP’. The committee's co-chairs warned that ‘intense workload pressures’ in general practice are ‘making it harder for GPs to take on trainer roles’. And they said that if this trend continues, there is a risk of ‘depriving future GPs of the invaluable insight and ment ... Date: 19-06-2025 Categories: • Education and training • Workforce
Nearly 160 sessional GPs currently 'seeking work' in Scotland alone ... that nearly half of GPs (44.58%) in Scotland say the future of their practice is ‘precarious’ or ‘not sustainable’, up 10% since 2023, and that many GPs are struggling to cope with their workload, with some describing it as ‘unmanageable’. At the same time, almost 160 FTE GPs are currently looking for work and could potentially be available, which would provide ‘approximately 700,000 additional appoin ... Date: 17-06-2025 Categories: • Scotland • Workforce
Blue-sky thinking is great, but not if it fails to reach the grassroots ... I thought. But then I remembered my day job – because things aren’t so great there. The QOF changes haven’t really affected workload. GPs argue the toss about phlebotomy and earwax because, unfortunately, they still rely on these small pots of funding, which is akin to using tester paint tins to finish your house. I meet some genuinely admirable GPs who are able to restructure their services, to bring ... Date: 13-06-2025 Categories: • Editor's blog
GPs criticised by coroner for 'not understanding' medical examiner process ... try, there are still inconsistencies that need to be addressed, with some colleagues reporting an increase in workload and bureaucracy. 'It is vitally important therefore that practices across the country are adequately resourced to ensure that the system can be effectively implemented and delivers reassurance to patients and loved ones.' Pulse has reached out to Drs Singh and Pavli for comme ... Date: 12-06-2025 Categories: • Elderly care • Gastroenterology and obesity • Workload
GP concern at private out-of-hours provider enforcing 'morally wrong' targets Exclusive GPs working for a private out-of-hours (OOH) provider in the South West have raised serious concerns about new performance targets which they say are ‘morally completely wrong’. HealthHero, a l ... Date: 11-06-2025 Categories: • Urgent care • Workload
GPs providing continuity of care must be NHS priority, says CMO ... n, are more likely to adhere to medical advice, and have lower rates of hospital admissions. ‘GPs also benefit, with evidence showing reduced workloads as patients consult less frequently. Strong relationships and trust between practitioner and patient allow for the earlier disclosure of symptoms, faster diagnoses, and more effective treatment.’ But he pointed out that the number of whole time equiv ... Date: 10-06-2025 Categories: • Scotland • Workload
Mounjaro primary care plans not yet finalised despite looming deadline ... eady to share any plans’ at this stage. All ICBs have received a funding allocation from NHS England which is based on both the drug costs and the expected workload of setting up the new service within primary. Medical secretary for Mid Mersey LMC Dr Ivan Camphor said that in his area ‘nobody’s really sure how it will work’ in primary care. Cheshire and Merseyside ICB did not respond to Pulse’ ... Date: 09-06-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Practice and personal finance • Workload
RCGP calls on Government to 'break down barriers' to GP partnership ... numbers have fallen ‘by 25% over the past decade’. It stressed that the model ‘has the potential’ to offer the flexibility many younger GPs are seeking, if ‘key pressures’ such as workload and liability are addressed. Addressing issues that are ‘discouraging’ GPs from taking on partnership ‘should be a priority’ for the Government, the college said, including: The risks of holding unlimited per ... Date: 06-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Contract • Politics • Practice and personal finance
Big questions: GP tirzepatide prescribing and international medical graduates ... e. But regardless of whether or not GPs are the prescribers, it is overwhelmingly likely that they will have a part to play and it will make a significant impact on workload. Even if private providers were involved to speed up the rollout, it is inconceivable that GPs will be completely removed from a patient’s care. This isn’t just about a new drug; it’s about an entire system of wraparound care that ... Date: 03-06-2025 Categories: • Big questions
NHS England pauses 'ground-breaking' AI project following GP data concerns ... foster this patient trust, then any advancements made in AI – which has potential to benefit patient care and alleviate GP workload – will be undermined.' An NHS England spokesperson told Pulse: ‘Maintaining patient privacy is central to this project and we are grateful to the Joint GP IT Committee for raising its concerns and meeting with us to discuss the strict governance and controls in place to ... Date: 03-06-2025 Categories: • Technology
GPs to vote on options for collective action in Northern Ireland ... e services now and in the future. 'The £9.5m associated with the 2025/26 GMS contract represents additional investment in core GP services, with no "strings" attached in terms of additional workload, or no requirement for additional patient consultations.' They added: 'The Minister has also stated his intention to see the pay recommendations from the recent DDRB report implemented for 2025/26 in ful ... Date: 02-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Contract • Northern Ireland
Expert analysis: Why are we not retaining GPs? ... had taken on a fully qualified role in NHS general practice six months after training. That number rose to 47.5% within a year and 62.2% by the two-year mark. Participation rates may mask true workload Interestingly, the study found that average estimated participation rates for joiners remained relatively stable, between 65% and 69% of a full-time contract, across the 2017 to 2023 period. H ... Date: 30-05-2025 Categories: • Guest opinion
Over 1,600 GPs miss out on pension tax compensation due to 'admin failures' ... me members with applications for PAACCS.' Pulse has contacted NHS England for comment. Earlier this year, the BMA found that one in four GPs reduced their workload this year due to issues related to pension taxation rules, amounting to a potential loss of four million appointments in England. Last week, an MP and former home secretary slammed the company Capita for operating ‘an extremely outda ... Date: 30-05-2025 Categories: • Practice and personal finance
Using AI to simplify clinic letters for patients can free up GP time, study finds ... sised the benefit of writing directly to the patient rather than sending them a copy of the GP letter. The study, whose authors included Pulse's editorial advisor Dr Keith Hopcroft, said: 'The workload involved in creating patient-friendly letters, or patient-friendly versions of the GP letter, is potentially onerous – and perhaps explains why, in many cases, secondary care doctors still tend to simply ... Date: 29-05-2025 Categories: • Referrals • Technology • Workload
GPs need to engage with obesity management as weight-loss jabs are rolled out, say researchers Weight-loss drugs cannot be seen as short-term solutions by the NHS and GPs will inevitably need to engage with obesity management as the medicines are rolled out, researchers have said. Researchers from ... Date: 28-05-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity
BMA leaders to debate 'prioritising' UK medical graduates for foundation programmes Doctor leaders will vote on whether UK medical school graduates should be 'prioritised' ahead of international graduates for foundation programme posts. At the BMA’s annual representative meeting next mo ... Date: 27-05-2025 Categories: • Education and training • Workforce
ICB imposes GP call response targets as part of £6.6m access funding New ICB plans to improve primary care access in London will require GP practices to respond to calls within 10 minutes and online consultations within one day. North West London ICB has set out the 2025/2 ... Date: 23-05-2025 Categories: • Practice and personal finance • Workload
NI to get first obesity management service to support weight-loss medication roll out Health officials in Northern Ireland have given the go ahead for the first regional obesity management service to support the roll out of weight-loss medication in the community. The service will involve ... Date: 23-05-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Northern Ireland
GP concern over EMIS maintenance on day after bank holiday GPs have raised concerns about EMIS IT system maintenance planned for the day after the bank holiday, which is typically the 'busiest day' for practice workload. Optum, the company that acquired EMIS in 2023, warned GP practices today that it will perform 'essential maintenance' impacting EMIS Web and EMIS-X over lunchtime on Tuesday 27 May. This ... Date: 22-05-2025 Categories: • Technology
'General practice is not peripheral to the NHS - it's fundamental' ... leaving general practice altogether, driven out by burnout, bureaucracy, and a sense that they can’t deliver the care they trained to provide. Fair pay, manageable workloads, and real career progression must be part of the solution. As CEO-designate of Londonwide LMCs, I’ve been meeting with MPs across the capital, urging them to put general practice at the centre of their work to tackle the NHS c ... Date: 21-05-2025 Categories: • The recruitment/unemployment crisis • Workforce
Involve private providers in weight loss jab rollout, urges think tank Roll out of weight loss drugs in England could be dramatically sped up to millions of working age adults by making use of existing private providers and a ‘digital first’ approach, a report from the Tony Bla ... Date: 21-05-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity
Australian GPs have it so good - remind me why I'm still here? ... trip to visit my sister in Australia. I met up with a GP friend who works on the west coast, in a beautiful seaside town. She left her NHS post in the UK a few years ago, when she felt her workload was becoming unsustainable. Now she works three days a week in Australia at a bulk-billing practice (providing healthcare to more needy patients rather than private patients). In Australia, she works 8-4pm ... Date: 19-05-2025 Categories: • Katie Musgrave
Community nurses call for more ‘GP back-up’ in palliative care decisions ... ive responsibility […] We are putting our registration at risk quite often […] for patient care,’ one nurse added. Some shared how their workload had increased by taking the lead in person-centred care where community nursing teams saw remote provision of care by GPs to be ‘unsatisfactory’. Professor Azeem Majeed, a GP and professor of primary care and public health at Imperial College London, said ... Date: 16-05-2025 Categories: • Elderly care • Mental health, pain and addiction • Workforce
Exclusive: One in four GPs prepared to assist patients seeking assisted dying ... hould be involved in broaching the possibility with palliative care patients. However, GPs told Pulse that should the legislation go ahead, assisted dying should not be part of core GP workload but be introduced as a separate service, with the RCGP and the BMA both echoing this. Luton GP partner Dr Paul Singer told Pulse: ‘Overall I do not object to the concept of assisted dying in appropriate circu ... Date: 15-05-2025 Categories: • Mental health, pain and addiction • Politics • Workload
GPs vote in favour of defining 'core' services and demanding payment for extra work ... ppropriate resourcing’. The BMA will now create a working group to define core general practice obligations to inform contract negotiations. Other motions tackling workload dump which LMC leaders passed included a motion calling on the BMA’s GP committees to adopt a ‘firm position statement to reject’ private share care arrangements. And another demanded ‘recognised funding’ to support GPs with t ... Date: 12-05-2025 Categories: • LMCs conferences • Renal medicine, urology and men's health • Workload
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 Gove ... Date: 08-05-2025 Categories: • LMCs conferences • Practice and personal finance
All-day online consultations will only cause 'temporary' GP demand spike, says BMA ... for patients to request consultations was the ‘most contentious’ requirement for GPs, and highlighted concerns about ‘the impact on GPs’ mental health’ and workload. In the new guidance shared last week, the committee said ‘practices should do nothing’ until system suppliers are compliant, but that ‘many practices’ may need to make preparations sooner than 1 October ‘given the high degree of variation ... Date: 07-05-2025 Categories: • 2025/26 GP contract • Technology • Workload
BMA warns GPs of AI risks as regulation currently in 'state of flux' The BMA has warned GPs of the potential risks when using artificial intelligence (AI) while regulations are still in a ‘state of flux’. In interim guidance, the GP Committee told GP practices they m ... Date: 06-05-2025 Categories: • Regulation • Technology
RCGP defends GPs as survey shows quarter of patients found 'errors' in their record Almost a quarter of patients have reported finding errors in their NHS records, with the RCGP suggesting that these may be down to inadequate IT and workload pressures in general practice. A survey of 1,800 adults, published by Healthwatch England today, found that 23% of respondents noticed inaccuracies or missing details in their records. Wh ... Date: 01-05-2025 Categories: • Technology
GP liability warning as health secretary pushes use of AI in NHS GP practices ‘may still be liable’ for clinical negligence claims arising from the use of artificial intelligence (AI), NHS England has said in new guidance. The commissioner has published guidance to ass ... Date: 28-04-2025 Categories: • Regulation • Technology • Workload
GP leaders to debate medical record keeping for transgender patients GP leaders from across the UK will discuss transgender patient care at their national conference next month, including maintaining medical records. LMCs will vote on demanding ‘clear’ national guidance on ... Date: 24-04-2025 Categories: • Mental health, pain and addiction • Renal medicine, urology and men's health • Technology • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics
GPs could demand payment for any new work transferred from hospitals ... targeted training and education for secondary care clinicians to ensure a better understanding of primary care capacity and contractual boundaries, reducing inappropriate workload shift.' At the conference, GP leaders will also debate GP unemployment, with one motion condemning the ‘continued unacceptable situation’ and calling on governments to expand the flexibility of the SFE locum reimbursement s ... Date: 24-04-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • LMCs conferences • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Workforce • Workload
Coroner concerns over large GP provider's use of 'call centres' A coroner has raised concerns about GP patient queries being dealt with at remote ‘call centres’ and about the lack of clear triage guidance for care navigators, following the death of a toddler. Assistan ... Date: 23-04-2025 Categories: • Paediatrics • Respiratory • Workforce
Additional roles expansion has not improved GP patient satisfaction, report finds The Government’s ‘rapid expansion’ of additional staff in GP practices has not improved patient satisfaction, a new analysis has found. A report by the Institute for Government (IfG) published this week h ... Date: 23-04-2025 Categories: • Workforce
GPs 'lose faith' in blood testing provider amid 'inaccurate' results claims ... ctor for South East London LMC Dr Sara Riley told Pulse that ‘delayed or inaccurate results mean anxiety for patients’ as well as ‘the potential for late diagnosis’ and extra workload for GPs who have to ‘hold risk’ while dealing with backlogs. She continued: ‘In many cases the same or similar problems have occurred repeatedly and there really does need to be some accountability for the effect this has ... Date: 22-04-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Referrals • Technology • Workload
LMCs instruct BMA to organise 'peaceful' GP protests GPs may be asked to join ‘peaceful protests’ organised by the BMA to highlight pressures in general practice, following a vote at the recent LMC conference. In March, local GP leaders attended a private s ... Date: 16-04-2025 Categories: • Politics • Workload
In defence of the GP partnership model ... safeguarded vulnerable patients, and continued providing essential care. Since then, practices have absorbed a growing burden of work from secondary care, often referred to as ‘workload dump’, without additional resources. Even post-pandemic, general practice remains the only part of the system that has expanded capacity to a new high to meet rising patient demand. With waiting times in secondar ... Date: 16-04-2025 Categories: • Guest opinion
The not-so-feckless-and-idle scroungers on welfare In light of the recent welfare reforms, Dr Paul O'Reilly reflects on a former homeless patient that flips the Government's script Nothing on God’s green earth quite grinds my gears as much as hearing my p ... Date: 15-04-2025 Categories: • Paul O'Reilly
NHS England strikes deal to maintain GP access to inclisiran until end of 2027 ... BMA and the RCGP warned of ‘serious concerns’ around the rollout of the drug in general practice, including the lack of capacity among GPs to manage the additional workload. And last year, local GP leaders across the country stressed to practices that they are ‘under no obligation’ to prescribe the drug without a local enhanced service (LES) in place. They reminded GPs that prescribing inclis ... Date: 11-04-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Long-term conditions and prescribing
What is the future of the sick note for GPs? Dr David Turner on whether there may a be a solution to the age-old problem of the sick note for GPs It feels like a debate that has been rumbling on for as long as I have been a GP. Love them or hate the ... Date: 08-04-2025 Categories: • David Turner
Three quarters of GPs continue to work despite not feeling mentally well enough ... down. 'Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be necessary and it is a symptom of an overstretched workforce dealing with unmanageable workloads.' She said that the upcoming 10-year plan for health needs to bring 'serious investment in general practice' including retention initiatives for GPs. Last year, NHS England extended the contract for a national mental health support service available to GPs - NHS P ... Date: 08-04-2025 Categories: • Mental health, pain and addiction • Workforce
Over 18,500 GPs missing pension records due to admin failures, claims BMA ... enting 56% of GPs who should have had their records fully updated to 2022/23, with 156,896 years of pension data missing in total. The doctors' union said that this issue is making planning GP workload ‘impossible’ and negatively impacting GPs’ mental and emotional wellbeing. It blamed failures by both NHSBSA and Primary Care Support England (PCSE), run by the company Capita, for ‘not ensuring ... Date: 04-04-2025 Categories: • Practice and personal finance

Carr-Hill GP funding formula review announced as part of 10-year NHS plan ... our community.’ The current formula is supposed to ensure resources are directed to practices based on an estimate of their patient workload, taking into account ‘drivers of workload’ and ‘unavoidable costs’. But both the RCGP and the BMA have argued for years that it needs to be replaced to accurately reflect the communities that practices care for. In 2015, Pulse revea ... Date: 25-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Healthcare inequalities • Politics • Practice and personal finance

Investing in general practice - if not now, when? ... tters? Patients need timely access to a GP, rather than a plethora of insufficiently-qualified-or-experienced clinicians. GPs need to be protected from inappropriate workload demands. Working conditions need urgently to be improved. Practices need sufficient funding to employ enough staff to safely provide services. And why the push to merge and scale up? Where is the evidence that this improves patient o ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Katie Musgrave

Pharmacy First uptake falling short of expectations, says Kinnock ... nd Social Care (DHSC) is looking at options to increase awareness of the scheme and to 'free up pharmacists to be able to operate at the top of their licence'. The scheme has aimed to shift of workload to pharmacies from GP practices, by allowing direct prescribing for seven common conditions: sinusitis; sore throat; earache; infected insect bite; impetigo; shingles; and uncomplicated urinary tract inf ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Dermatology and wound care • Infectious diseases, immunology and allergy • Respiratory • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics

Over 60% of GPs 'unsatisfied' with Government's handling of general practice ... al practice at the moment – they are working incredibly hard in incredibly challenging circumstances day in day out. ‘Workload has escalated both in terms of volume and complexity since 2019, but numbers of GPs have only just started to show an upturn – and we continue to hear reports from members about the nonsensical situation of GPs being unable to find employment upon completion of their train ... Date: 24-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Politics • Practice and personal finance

BMA leaders back GPs declining to prescribe specialist medication ... the medications initiated, titrated and the patient stabilised. Proposing the motion, YOR LMC medical secretary Dr Brian McGregor said: ‘From a general practice perspective, it is a workload transfer – a decision is made in a secondary care service, and then a responsibility is passed to a general practitioner to actually initiate and generate the prescription. And it carries an increased risk. ‘GP ... Date: 23-06-2025 Categories: • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Workload

Dr Heather Ryan: How my own GLP-1 journey has reshaped patient consultations ... ries, takeaways and alcohol).There are also good and bad slimming clinics - GP Facebook groups are awash with stories about clinics inappropriately dumping workload back onto NHS GPs. Some clinics are more rigorous than others when it comes to ensuring patients are good candidates for the drug and are reporting their weight accurately. Before and after: one week of trea ... Date: 23-06-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Guest opinion

Most people think GPs 'do not work hard enough', 'disheartening' survey finds ... conditions. ‘Time and time again, the Government delivers funding that’s tied up in complex structures and attached to complicated conditions and targets, ramping up GPs’ workloads. Despite this year's funding boost, the reality is that GPs will still be overworked and under-resourced – not the opposite. ‘While over half of the public rightly see GPs as an essential part of the NHS, even then, the r ... Date: 20-06-2025 Categories: • Workload

Only half of overseas doctors who moved to the UK say their expectations have been met ... lf of doctors who qualified overseas and moved to the UK said that their expectations had been met, according to new research published by the GMC. Those unsatisfied with the move blamed heavy workload, stress and a poor work-life balance. The research, commissioned by the GMC, surveyed over 3,000 doctors between June and August 2024 who had either moved, or considered moving, to the UK for ... Date: 20-06-2025 Categories: • Workforce

BMA 'increasingly' seeing non-GPs appointed as training programme supervisors ... ingly becoming involved in overseeing some aspects of GP training, including allied health professionals ‘who have never worked as a GP’. The committee's co-chairs warned that ‘intense workload pressures’ in general practice are ‘making it harder for GPs to take on trainer roles’. And they said that if this trend continues, there is a risk of ‘depriving future GPs of the invaluable insight and ment ... Date: 19-06-2025 Categories: • Education and training • Workforce

Nearly 160 sessional GPs currently 'seeking work' in Scotland alone ... that nearly half of GPs (44.58%) in Scotland say the future of their practice is ‘precarious’ or ‘not sustainable’, up 10% since 2023, and that many GPs are struggling to cope with their workload, with some describing it as ‘unmanageable’. At the same time, almost 160 FTE GPs are currently looking for work and could potentially be available, which would provide ‘approximately 700,000 additional appoin ... Date: 17-06-2025 Categories: • Scotland • Workforce

Blue-sky thinking is great, but not if it fails to reach the grassroots ... I thought. But then I remembered my day job – because things aren’t so great there. The QOF changes haven’t really affected workload. GPs argue the toss about phlebotomy and earwax because, unfortunately, they still rely on these small pots of funding, which is akin to using tester paint tins to finish your house. I meet some genuinely admirable GPs who are able to restructure their services, to bring ... Date: 13-06-2025 Categories: • Editor's blog

GPs criticised by coroner for 'not understanding' medical examiner process ... try, there are still inconsistencies that need to be addressed, with some colleagues reporting an increase in workload and bureaucracy. 'It is vitally important therefore that practices across the country are adequately resourced to ensure that the system can be effectively implemented and delivers reassurance to patients and loved ones.' Pulse has reached out to Drs Singh and Pavli for comme ... Date: 12-06-2025 Categories: • Elderly care • Gastroenterology and obesity • Workload

GP concern at private out-of-hours provider enforcing 'morally wrong' targets Exclusive GPs working for a private out-of-hours (OOH) provider in the South West have raised serious concerns about new performance targets which they say are ‘morally completely wrong’. HealthHero, a l ... Date: 11-06-2025 Categories: • Urgent care • Workload

GPs providing continuity of care must be NHS priority, says CMO ... n, are more likely to adhere to medical advice, and have lower rates of hospital admissions. ‘GPs also benefit, with evidence showing reduced workloads as patients consult less frequently. Strong relationships and trust between practitioner and patient allow for the earlier disclosure of symptoms, faster diagnoses, and more effective treatment.’ But he pointed out that the number of whole time equiv ... Date: 10-06-2025 Categories: • Scotland • Workload

Mounjaro primary care plans not yet finalised despite looming deadline ... eady to share any plans’ at this stage. All ICBs have received a funding allocation from NHS England which is based on both the drug costs and the expected workload of setting up the new service within primary. Medical secretary for Mid Mersey LMC Dr Ivan Camphor said that in his area ‘nobody’s really sure how it will work’ in primary care. Cheshire and Merseyside ICB did not respond to Pulse’ ... Date: 09-06-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Practice and personal finance • Workload

RCGP calls on Government to 'break down barriers' to GP partnership ... numbers have fallen ‘by 25% over the past decade’. It stressed that the model ‘has the potential’ to offer the flexibility many younger GPs are seeking, if ‘key pressures’ such as workload and liability are addressed. Addressing issues that are ‘discouraging’ GPs from taking on partnership ‘should be a priority’ for the Government, the college said, including: The risks of holding unlimited per ... Date: 06-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Contract • Politics • Practice and personal finance

Big questions: GP tirzepatide prescribing and international medical graduates ... e. But regardless of whether or not GPs are the prescribers, it is overwhelmingly likely that they will have a part to play and it will make a significant impact on workload. Even if private providers were involved to speed up the rollout, it is inconceivable that GPs will be completely removed from a patient’s care. This isn’t just about a new drug; it’s about an entire system of wraparound care that ... Date: 03-06-2025 Categories: • Big questions

NHS England pauses 'ground-breaking' AI project following GP data concerns ... foster this patient trust, then any advancements made in AI – which has potential to benefit patient care and alleviate GP workload – will be undermined.' An NHS England spokesperson told Pulse: ‘Maintaining patient privacy is central to this project and we are grateful to the Joint GP IT Committee for raising its concerns and meeting with us to discuss the strict governance and controls in place to ... Date: 03-06-2025 Categories: • Technology

GPs to vote on options for collective action in Northern Ireland ... e services now and in the future. 'The £9.5m associated with the 2025/26 GMS contract represents additional investment in core GP services, with no "strings" attached in terms of additional workload, or no requirement for additional patient consultations.' They added: 'The Minister has also stated his intention to see the pay recommendations from the recent DDRB report implemented for 2025/26 in ful ... Date: 02-06-2025 Categories: • Breaking news • Contract • Northern Ireland

Expert analysis: Why are we not retaining GPs? ... had taken on a fully qualified role in NHS general practice six months after training. That number rose to 47.5% within a year and 62.2% by the two-year mark. Participation rates may mask true workload Interestingly, the study found that average estimated participation rates for joiners remained relatively stable, between 65% and 69% of a full-time contract, across the 2017 to 2023 period. H ... Date: 30-05-2025 Categories: • Guest opinion

Over 1,600 GPs miss out on pension tax compensation due to 'admin failures' ... me members with applications for PAACCS.' Pulse has contacted NHS England for comment. Earlier this year, the BMA found that one in four GPs reduced their workload this year due to issues related to pension taxation rules, amounting to a potential loss of four million appointments in England. Last week, an MP and former home secretary slammed the company Capita for operating ‘an extremely outda ... Date: 30-05-2025 Categories: • Practice and personal finance

Using AI to simplify clinic letters for patients can free up GP time, study finds ... sised the benefit of writing directly to the patient rather than sending them a copy of the GP letter. The study, whose authors included Pulse's editorial advisor Dr Keith Hopcroft, said: 'The workload involved in creating patient-friendly letters, or patient-friendly versions of the GP letter, is potentially onerous – and perhaps explains why, in many cases, secondary care doctors still tend to simply ... Date: 29-05-2025 Categories: • Referrals • Technology • Workload

GPs need to engage with obesity management as weight-loss jabs are rolled out, say researchers Weight-loss drugs cannot be seen as short-term solutions by the NHS and GPs will inevitably need to engage with obesity management as the medicines are rolled out, researchers have said. Researchers from ... Date: 28-05-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity

BMA leaders to debate 'prioritising' UK medical graduates for foundation programmes Doctor leaders will vote on whether UK medical school graduates should be 'prioritised' ahead of international graduates for foundation programme posts. At the BMA’s annual representative meeting next mo ... Date: 27-05-2025 Categories: • Education and training • Workforce

ICB imposes GP call response targets as part of £6.6m access funding New ICB plans to improve primary care access in London will require GP practices to respond to calls within 10 minutes and online consultations within one day. North West London ICB has set out the 2025/2 ... Date: 23-05-2025 Categories: • Practice and personal finance • Workload

NI to get first obesity management service to support weight-loss medication roll out Health officials in Northern Ireland have given the go ahead for the first regional obesity management service to support the roll out of weight-loss medication in the community. The service will involve ... Date: 23-05-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • Northern Ireland

GP concern over EMIS maintenance on day after bank holiday GPs have raised concerns about EMIS IT system maintenance planned for the day after the bank holiday, which is typically the 'busiest day' for practice workload. Optum, the company that acquired EMIS in 2023, warned GP practices today that it will perform 'essential maintenance' impacting EMIS Web and EMIS-X over lunchtime on Tuesday 27 May. This ... Date: 22-05-2025 Categories: • Technology

'General practice is not peripheral to the NHS - it's fundamental' ... leaving general practice altogether, driven out by burnout, bureaucracy, and a sense that they can’t deliver the care they trained to provide. Fair pay, manageable workloads, and real career progression must be part of the solution. As CEO-designate of Londonwide LMCs, I’ve been meeting with MPs across the capital, urging them to put general practice at the centre of their work to tackle the NHS c ... Date: 21-05-2025 Categories: • The recruitment/unemployment crisis • Workforce

Involve private providers in weight loss jab rollout, urges think tank Roll out of weight loss drugs in England could be dramatically sped up to millions of working age adults by making use of existing private providers and a ‘digital first’ approach, a report from the Tony Bla ... Date: 21-05-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity

Australian GPs have it so good - remind me why I'm still here? ... trip to visit my sister in Australia. I met up with a GP friend who works on the west coast, in a beautiful seaside town. She left her NHS post in the UK a few years ago, when she felt her workload was becoming unsustainable. Now she works three days a week in Australia at a bulk-billing practice (providing healthcare to more needy patients rather than private patients). In Australia, she works 8-4pm ... Date: 19-05-2025 Categories: • Katie Musgrave

Community nurses call for more ‘GP back-up’ in palliative care decisions ... ive responsibility […] We are putting our registration at risk quite often […] for patient care,’ one nurse added. Some shared how their workload had increased by taking the lead in person-centred care where community nursing teams saw remote provision of care by GPs to be ‘unsatisfactory’. Professor Azeem Majeed, a GP and professor of primary care and public health at Imperial College London, said ... Date: 16-05-2025 Categories: • Elderly care • Mental health, pain and addiction • Workforce

Exclusive: One in four GPs prepared to assist patients seeking assisted dying ... hould be involved in broaching the possibility with palliative care patients. However, GPs told Pulse that should the legislation go ahead, assisted dying should not be part of core GP workload but be introduced as a separate service, with the RCGP and the BMA both echoing this. Luton GP partner Dr Paul Singer told Pulse: ‘Overall I do not object to the concept of assisted dying in appropriate circu ... Date: 15-05-2025 Categories: • Mental health, pain and addiction • Politics • Workload

GPs vote in favour of defining 'core' services and demanding payment for extra work ... ppropriate resourcing’. The BMA will now create a working group to define core general practice obligations to inform contract negotiations. Other motions tackling workload dump which LMC leaders passed included a motion calling on the BMA’s GP committees to adopt a ‘firm position statement to reject’ private share care arrangements. And another demanded ‘recognised funding’ to support GPs with t ... Date: 12-05-2025 Categories: • LMCs conferences • Renal medicine, urology and men's health • Workload

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 Gove ... Date: 08-05-2025 Categories: • LMCs conferences • Practice and personal finance

All-day online consultations will only cause 'temporary' GP demand spike, says BMA ... for patients to request consultations was the ‘most contentious’ requirement for GPs, and highlighted concerns about ‘the impact on GPs’ mental health’ and workload. In the new guidance shared last week, the committee said ‘practices should do nothing’ until system suppliers are compliant, but that ‘many practices’ may need to make preparations sooner than 1 October ‘given the high degree of variation ... Date: 07-05-2025 Categories: • 2025/26 GP contract • Technology • Workload

BMA warns GPs of AI risks as regulation currently in 'state of flux' The BMA has warned GPs of the potential risks when using artificial intelligence (AI) while regulations are still in a ‘state of flux’. In interim guidance, the GP Committee told GP practices they m ... Date: 06-05-2025 Categories: • Regulation • Technology

RCGP defends GPs as survey shows quarter of patients found 'errors' in their record Almost a quarter of patients have reported finding errors in their NHS records, with the RCGP suggesting that these may be down to inadequate IT and workload pressures in general practice. A survey of 1,800 adults, published by Healthwatch England today, found that 23% of respondents noticed inaccuracies or missing details in their records. Wh ... Date: 01-05-2025 Categories: • Technology

GP liability warning as health secretary pushes use of AI in NHS GP practices ‘may still be liable’ for clinical negligence claims arising from the use of artificial intelligence (AI), NHS England has said in new guidance. The commissioner has published guidance to ass ... Date: 28-04-2025 Categories: • Regulation • Technology • Workload

GP leaders to debate medical record keeping for transgender patients GP leaders from across the UK will discuss transgender patient care at their national conference next month, including maintaining medical records. LMCs will vote on demanding ‘clear’ national guidance on ... Date: 24-04-2025 Categories: • Mental health, pain and addiction • Renal medicine, urology and men's health • Technology • Women's health, gynaecology and obstetrics

GPs could demand payment for any new work transferred from hospitals ... targeted training and education for secondary care clinicians to ensure a better understanding of primary care capacity and contractual boundaries, reducing inappropriate workload shift.' At the conference, GP leaders will also debate GP unemployment, with one motion condemning the ‘continued unacceptable situation’ and calling on governments to expand the flexibility of the SFE locum reimbursement s ... Date: 24-04-2025 Categories: • Gastroenterology and obesity • LMCs conferences • Long-term conditions and prescribing • Workforce • Workload

Coroner concerns over large GP provider's use of 'call centres' A coroner has raised concerns about GP patient queries being dealt with at remote ‘call centres’ and about the lack of clear triage guidance for care navigators, following the death of a toddler. Assistan ... Date: 23-04-2025 Categories: • Paediatrics • Respiratory • Workforce

Additional roles expansion has not improved GP patient satisfaction, report finds The Government’s ‘rapid expansion’ of additional staff in GP practices has not improved patient satisfaction, a new analysis has found. A report by the Institute for Government (IfG) published this week h ... Date: 23-04-2025 Categories: • Workforce

GPs 'lose faith' in blood testing provider amid 'inaccurate' results claims ... ctor for South East London LMC Dr Sara Riley told Pulse that ‘delayed or inaccurate results mean anxiety for patients’ as well as ‘the potential for late diagnosis’ and extra workload for GPs who have to ‘hold risk’ while dealing with backlogs. She continued: ‘In many cases the same or similar problems have occurred repeatedly and there really does need to be some accountability for the effect this has ... Date: 22-04-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Referrals • Technology • Workload

LMCs instruct BMA to organise 'peaceful' GP protests GPs may be asked to join ‘peaceful protests’ organised by the BMA to highlight pressures in general practice, following a vote at the recent LMC conference. In March, local GP leaders attended a private s ... Date: 16-04-2025 Categories: • Politics • Workload

In defence of the GP partnership model ... safeguarded vulnerable patients, and continued providing essential care. Since then, practices have absorbed a growing burden of work from secondary care, often referred to as ‘workload dump’, without additional resources. Even post-pandemic, general practice remains the only part of the system that has expanded capacity to a new high to meet rising patient demand. With waiting times in secondar ... Date: 16-04-2025 Categories: • Guest opinion

The not-so-feckless-and-idle scroungers on welfare In light of the recent welfare reforms, Dr Paul O'Reilly reflects on a former homeless patient that flips the Government's script Nothing on God’s green earth quite grinds my gears as much as hearing my p ... Date: 15-04-2025 Categories: • Paul O'Reilly

NHS England strikes deal to maintain GP access to inclisiran until end of 2027 ... BMA and the RCGP warned of ‘serious concerns’ around the rollout of the drug in general practice, including the lack of capacity among GPs to manage the additional workload. And last year, local GP leaders across the country stressed to practices that they are ‘under no obligation’ to prescribe the drug without a local enhanced service (LES) in place. They reminded GPs that prescribing inclis ... Date: 11-04-2025 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Long-term conditions and prescribing

What is the future of the sick note for GPs? Dr David Turner on whether there may a be a solution to the age-old problem of the sick note for GPs It feels like a debate that has been rumbling on for as long as I have been a GP. Love them or hate the ... Date: 08-04-2025 Categories: • David Turner

Three quarters of GPs continue to work despite not feeling mentally well enough ... down. 'Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be necessary and it is a symptom of an overstretched workforce dealing with unmanageable workloads.' She said that the upcoming 10-year plan for health needs to bring 'serious investment in general practice' including retention initiatives for GPs. Last year, NHS England extended the contract for a national mental health support service available to GPs - NHS P ... Date: 08-04-2025 Categories: • Mental health, pain and addiction • Workforce

Over 18,500 GPs missing pension records due to admin failures, claims BMA ... enting 56% of GPs who should have had their records fully updated to 2022/23, with 156,896 years of pension data missing in total. The doctors' union said that this issue is making planning GP workload ‘impossible’ and negatively impacting GPs’ mental and emotional wellbeing. It blamed failures by both NHSBSA and Primary Care Support England (PCSE), run by the company Capita, for ‘not ensuring ... Date: 04-04-2025 Categories: • Practice and personal finance

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