Despite the Conservation party manifesto for the 2019 general election promising to deliver 6,000 additional full-time equivalent GPs, worryingly, the NHS lost 717 FTE GPs between March 2019 and March 2022, and the Health and Social Care Committee’s July 2022 report on workforce was scathing about the Government’s failure to act decisively on the chronic staff shortages across healthcare in the UK. This week, we speak to more colleagues from the RCGP conference: first, we talk to Pamela Curtis about the challenges of returning to general practice after a break; secondly, we speak to a group of GP trainees about their innovative platform, The Big GP Consultation, and hear their thoughts on shaping the future of general practice.

Our guests:

Pamela Curtis is a salaried GP working at NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB.

Veena Aggarwal, Devina Maru, Liam Loftus and Rachel Weaver are all GP trainees, and are part of the team for The Big GP Consultation.

Further reading:

House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee. Workforce: recruitment, training and retention in health and social care. 2022. https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/23246/documents/169640/default/