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REBUILD GENERAL PRACTICE CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

REBUILD GENERAL PRACTICE CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

GPs and their teams faced an extremely challenging time during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, general practice in England continues to face a worsening workforce crisis. BMA research published last year showed that the NHS has lost nearly 2,000 full-time equivalent GPs in England since 2015.

In response, working in partnership, the BMA and GPDF have launched the Rebuild General Practice campaign . To launch the campaign, Dr Kieran Sharrock, GPC England Deputy Chair, gave a keynote speech earlier this week at the King’s Fund, where he was joined by Jeremy Hunt MP, to outline the impact on patients that the workforce crisis is having.

You can read more about the launch event on the BMA website

To coincide with the launch, the campaign released the findings of a survey of GPs in England, Wales, and Scotland, which showed that:

• nearly nine in 10 GPs fear patients aren't always safe at their surgeries

• 7 out of 10 GPs feel the risk to ‘patient safety’ is increasing

• staff shortages and too little time for appointments were main factors putting patients at risk

• 86% of GPs stated they didn’t have enough time with patients

• 77% of GPs said GP shortages were putting patient safety at risk.

It is vital that we build as much support for the campaign as possible. You can find more information on the campaign website 

You can also follow and share content, news and updates on the campaign Twitter account 

Rebuild General Practice political engagement session.

A copy of the deck is now in the LMC Toolkit.

We have also added several template documents for your use in engaging politicians:

  • Template letter to MP - Please use this to invite MPs to a meeting or to visit a surgery.
  • Political briefing pack - This includes the latest Rebuild GP messaging, asks and information. You can use it to prepare for meetings and as a takeaway document for MPs.
  • Template press release - We recommend taking photos when you meet with MPs so you can share them on social media and with press. You can use this template press release to accompany photos to local media.

We also wanted to share some fantastic recent developments which highlight that General Practice issues are really climbing up the political agenda:

  • 2 PMQs on General Practice in 2 weeks! Keir Starmer on access to GPs on Wednesday 18 June and Andrew Selous on General Practice capacity directly after attending our Parliamentary drop-in event on Wednesday 15 June.
  • The Health Select Committee hearing on the future of General Practice, at which GPs gave evidence. The report, which will assess the Governments efforts to address GP workforce issues, is expected to be released in the Autumn.
  • An Opposition Day Debate on Tuesday 21st June on Access to GP Services (1 of only 17 debates allocated to the Labour party each year). Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting raised many points that were completely aligned with Rebuild GP messaging and Margaret Green MP directly mentioned the campaign.
  • 21 MPs in attendance at the Rebuild General Practice Parliamentary drop-in event on Wednesday 15 June - thanks again for your role in getting them there! MPs had in-depth, 1:1 discussions with GPs from the campaign. See more and share on Twitter @RebuildGP

GPs from the campaign are also holding private meetings this week and next with the Shadow Health team, including Wes Streeting, Shadow Health Secretary and Feryal Clark, Shadow Minister for Primary Care.