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Written question asked by Michelle Donelan (Conservative) on Tuesday, 12 July 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 14 July 2022. It was answered by James Morris (Conservative) on Friday, 22 July 2022 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.


General Practitioners: Rural Areas

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle the shortage of GPs in rural areas; and what assessment his Department has made of the impact of that shortage on the quality of services that patients receive.

Answer

In 2016, we launched the Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme which provides a one-off financial incentive of £20,000 to attract doctors to train in locations where there have been challenges to recruitment, including many rural areas. In 2021, 550 places were available through the Scheme and following additional Government investment, there are 800 places available in 2022.

The general practice workforce also consists of other health professionals who can respond to the needs of patients, including in rural areas. We are diversifying the general practice workforce, including recruiting 26,000 more primary care staff, to ensure the appropriate range of skills is available in general practice to deliver high quality patient care.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
35010
Session
2022-23
Subjects
General practitioners Standards Vacancies Rural areas
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk