DAUK’s GP committee has renewed its call for ARRS restrictions to be lifted on GPs.
It follows a speech by Health Secretary Wes Streeting to the NHS Confederation Expo conference in which he said GPs ‘should be able to run local hospitals’.
Mr Streeting said that the ‘strongest acute trusts’ should be able to provide primary care services in order to meet patients’ needs ‘in a more integrated and efficient way’.
Dr Steve Taylor, GP spokesperson for the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), said GPs had a key role in the development of the NHS.
ARRS restrictions
He said: “As Mr Streeting clearly highlighted, the link between health and social care is important, and removing barriers to innovation is key at national and local levels.
“GPs are in a unique position of being at the centre of patient care and links to other services.
“As an example we would again ask that restrictions on ARRS (Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme) be lifted on GPs.
“Currently it’s only for GPs up to two years post-qualification. It seems this is an obvious top down issue that needs removing.”
Mr Streeting said that one of the things he was most proud of since becoming health secretary was the ‘work with GPs’.
Frontline GPs
He said: “‘It’s not just that we’ve been able to deliver the biggest uplift in funding for years or the satisfaction of seeing a decision I took in my first weeks translate into more than 1,500 GPs employed on the frontline already as a result.
“It’s actually the fact that we agreed a contract rather than imposing it, committed to further reform together, and it feels like we’re building a real partnership with the profession.”
Dr Taylor has questioned the accuracy of the figure of 1,500 GPs, most recently in DAUK’s response to the spending review, saying thousands of GPs cannot find work.
Collaboration
But he said DAUK’s GP committee was grateful to Mr Streeting for highlighting the significant contribution of GPs in his speech.
Dr Taylor said: “Although as he suggested there is a long way to go in terms of recruitment and retention of GPs in the workforce, there is a role for GPs to be involved in the development of the NHS in the next 10 years.
“It is vital that collaboration between organisations continues, with those in positions of responsibility listening.”
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