- New figures show over 1,503 extra GPs have been hired through new scheme since 1 October
- Major recruitment boost comes after government removed red tape which made it difficult for surgeries to hire doctors
- Increased GP capacity will help fix the front door of the NHS and increase appointments to bring back the family doctor
- Milestone builds on Plan for Change’s progress, which has delivered two million appointments seven months early, and cut waiting lists by 193,000
New figures show an extra 1,503 GPs have been recruited since 1 October – thanks to government action.
The recruitment boost, part of the government’s Plan for Change will help to end the scandal of patients struggling to see a doctor – easing pressure on GPs and cutting waiting lists. Alongside changes to the GP contract for 2025-26, these additional GPs will help end the 8am scramble for appointments which so many patients currently endure every day.
When the government came into office, unnecessary red tape was preventing practices from hiring newly qualified GPs, meaning more than 1,000 were due to graduate into unemployment. At the same time, there were also 1,399 fewer fully qualified GPs than a decade prior, showing how years of underfunding and neglect had eroded GP services.
The government cut the red tape and invested an extra £82 million to allow networks of practices to hire the GPs, with the funding continuing past this year thanks to the extra funding announced at the Budget.
People in communities across England will be more readily able to receive the timely care they deserve, helping to shift healthcare from hospitals to the community.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:
Rebuilding our broken NHS starts with fixing the front door. We inherited a ludicrous situation where patients couldn’t get a GP appointment, while GPs couldn’t get a job. By cutting red tape and investing more in our NHS, we have put an extra 1,503 GPs into general practice to deliver more appointments.
The extra investment and reforms we have made will allow patients to book appointments more easily, to help bring back the family doctor and end the 8am scramble.
It is only because of the necessary decisions we took to increase employer National Insurance that we are able to recruit more GPs and deliver better services for patients. The extra investment and reform this government is making, as part of its Plan for Change, will get the NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future.
Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services, said:
I would like to thank the general practice teams that have employed significantly more than the 1,000 extra GPs promised to provide care for patients.
Improving access to general practice is an NHS priority and GP teams are delivering 29 million appointments every month – up a fifth since before the pandemic.
But we have more to do to make it easier for patients to see their local GP, so practice teams should continue to use this funding to best effect by recruiting more GPs, so more patients can be seen more quickly.
The recruitment of an additional 1,503 GPs was made possible by the tough but fair decisions the Chancellor took at the Budget to fix the foundations of the NHS, enabling the government to provide almost £26 billion to get the NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future.
Thanks to these decisions, the government has already delivered over two million extra appointments since July, meeting its target seven months early, and brought the waiting list down by 193,000.
Last year, the department added GPs to the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) and provided extra funding, meaning that GPs could be recruited more quickly by primary care networks (PCNs).
The government has since provided the biggest boost to GP funding in years – an extra £889 million on top of the existing budget for general practice in 2025-26.
The investment comes alongside new reforms to modernise general practice. GP surgeries must now allow patients to request appointments online throughout working hours from October, freeing up the phones for those who want to book over the phone, and making it easier for practices to triage patients based on medical need. More patients will also be able to book appointments with their regular doctor if they choose to, to bring back the family doctor.
Cutting waiting times and improving access to health care for patients is one of the government’s top priorities in its Plan for Change which is driving forward reform of the health service to rebuild our NHS and improve living standards, which are growing at their fastest rate in two years.
