Making Time in General Practice
The full report can be downloaded here.
This report was commissioned by NHS England as part of its wider work to deliver the New Deal, strengthening primary care and releasing capacity to introduce new care models. It summarises work carried out by the Primary Care Foundation and NHS Alliance on reducing bureaucracy and shaping demand in general practice in order to make more time for GPs to do what only they can do.
It is unique in that it has quantified current pressures across England in order to prioritise recommendations for action. It reports on a survey of general practices to identify where the burden of bureaucracy lies and identifies changes in contracting and monitoring that would reduce practice time spent on bureaucracy. It details an audit of GP appointments to understand how avoidable consultations with GPs arise and where they could have been better directed. It includes recommendations for improving the primary-secondary care interface developed jointly by senior clinicians and managers from both sectors. Finally, it concludes with a series of articles and thought leadership pieces commissioned in pulling this report together.
The joint press release is available here.
The forward can be downloaded here.