GP shake-up will bring extra £2.4bn a year funding and see patients urged to ‘self-manage’ conditions on the internet

Patients will be urged to “self-manage” conditions on the internet and see nurses and pharmacists instead of doctors as part of a major shake-up of GP practices announced today.

NHS England laid out a five-year plan to put general practice "back on its feet", with an extra £2.4 billion a year in funding by the end of the decade.

The funding comes from existing budgets and is likely to mean cut backs in other areas of the NHS. However health leaders hope it will lead to a reduction in demand for hospital services saving the NHS money in the long term.

The boost comes after mounting pressure from GP leaders over increasing workloads and underfunding, as well as a shortage of trainee doctors willing to go into general practice. The plan has been endorsed by doctors’ leaders who said it represented “a significant and comprehensive package of proposals to support general practice both in the immediate and longer term”.

Under the plan announced by NHS England boss, Simon Stevens, GP surgeries will work together to manage patient demand, increase their opening hours on week nights and weekends and encourage patients to see professionals other than GPs.

GP practices could see an extra 1,500 pharmacists working alongside them to streamline the issuing of repeat prescriptions, deal with minor ailments and help people with long-term conditions. There is also a plan to bring 3,000 mental health therapists into primary care.

Some £45 million has also been earmarked "so that every practice in the country can help their reception and clerical staff play a greater role in care navigation, signposting patients and handling clinical paperwork to free up GP time."

Overall, the report said an extra 5,000 non-medical staff were needed over the next five years to support general practice, alongside 5,000 more GPs. There will also be a push to retain existing GPs and those who want to work flexibly and part-time, as well as cash incentives for doctors who want to return to the field.

It calls for a reduced burden on GPs while "increasing the role" of other practitioners and better "self-care" among patients.

It said examples would include "online self-management and signposting to other services, better use of the talents in the wider workforce, such as advanced nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, care navigators, physiotherapists and medical assistants, and greater use of digital technology, for example, apps connecting patients to their practice (and) phone and email consultations."

The plan said there would be investment in "online resources that will help patients self-manage, for example, more self-help content on NHS Choices, online consultations and 111 Online, which is currently in development."

A new route will open for GPs with previous UK experience - who work in equivalent primary care roles outside the UK - to come back to GP surgeries without needing to sit exams.

A "central contact point" will also be created "for any doctor wishing to return to work in English general practice, so that doctors are supported in navigating any regulatory issues."

Funding will be made available for GPs suffering from burn-out and stress, and extra cash will be put into indemnity schemes for GPs who face being sued by patients.

The plan also says GP surgeries rated good or outstanding will only face inspections by the regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) every five years to reduce the administrative burden.

Under the plan, money given to NHS England by the Government as core funding will be divided up so general practice receives a larger share than at present.

The amount general practice receives will go from £9.6 billion in 2016/17 to more than £12 billion by 2021 - a 14 per cent increase in real terms, NHS England said.

Dr Maureen Baker, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, welcomed the move.

She said: "For too long GPs - and our members - have been undervalued, underfunded, and not recognised for the essential role we play in keeping the health service sustainable and safe for patients. We genuinely hope that today's news marks a turning point for general practice.

"The College has been the leading voice in highlighting the intense resource and workforce pressures that general practice is currently facing, and calling for reform.

"Today's announcement is a huge and important step in the right direction, and if implemented correctly, our profession, the wider NHS, and most importantly, our patients will reap the benefits."

Mr Stevens said: "GPs are by far the largest branch of British medicine, and as a recent British Medical Journal headline put it - if general practice fails, the whole NHS fails.

"So if anyone 10 years ago had said: 'Here's what the NHS should now do - cut the share of funding for primary care and grow the number of hospital specialists three times faster than GPs', they'd have been laughed out of court.

"But looking back over a decade, that's exactly what's happened."

He added: "So rather than ignore these real pressures, the NHS has at last begun openly acknowledging them. Now we need to act, and this plan sets out exactly how."