Labour member of parliament Wes Streeting delivers a speech on October 11, 2023 in Liverpool, … [+]
England will give primary care a greater share of health funding in one of the first major commitments of the U.K.’s new Labour government.
New health and social care secretary Wes Streeting, whose party won a landslide victory in the U.K.’s general election last week, said the government would “bring back the family doctor” at a visit to a London general practice office on Monday.
At the moment, primary care recieves less than 10% of the country’s health spending, while acute hospital care makes up almost 60%.
The other 30% goes on mental health, community, ambulance, dental and opthalmic services, as well as local public health services and prescribing.
No specific figures have been given as part of the announcement, but making it easier to see a family doctor — and the same doctor, at that — were key election promises from Labour.
“Patients are finding it harder than ever to see a GP. Patients can’t get through the front door of the NHS, so they aren’t getting the timely care they need,” Streeting said in a statement.
“That’s no surprise, when GPs and primary care has been receiving a smaller proportion of NHS resources. I’m committed to reversing that.”
NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard, who also visited the family doctor practice on Monday, said GP teams were “the bedrock” of the health service, but “they are under huge pressure and working incredibly hard to deliver more appointments.”
She said the NHS “looked forward” to working with the new government to better support and transform primary care services.
Although shifting resources to primary care will squeeze funding in other areas of health, it’s hoped it will ultimately relieve pressure on the system overall.
Nonetheless, hospitals managers already facing budgets so tight they need to cut clinical staff may be hesistant about shifts in funding from acute to primary care.
At the moment, acute hospitals are struggling to cope with high bed occupancy, which has serious knock-on effects throughout the health service.
The slow discharge of vulnerable and frail patients in need of social care support, for example, is a major driver of long waits in emergency rooms and for ambulances. The Royal College of Emergency Care estimates the crisis is causing thousands of excess deaths every year.
“Properly funded primary care can help ease the pressure on the entire NHS and support our colleagues in over stretched secondary care,” said Kamila Hawthorne, who chairs the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Increasing provision of non-acute care — like family doctor services — can reduce demand for acute hospital beds and emergency care services, for example.
Hawthorne argued it’s also better value for the taxpayer, saying: “an appointment with a GP is much more cost effective” than an emergency room visit.
Numerous measures like virtual wards and have already been introduced or expanded to offer community-based treatment to more patients.
But the problem is far from solved and it will take time for many of the benefits of increase primary care provision to filter through to hospitals.