§ 14. Mr. Chris Mullin (Sunderland, South)What plans he has to review the funding arrangements for GPs; and if he will make a statement. [88251]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Denham)We have established the equity in primary care working group, whose membership includes representatives from the general practices committee of the British Medical Association, health authorities, the medical practices committee and the NHS executive. Its task is to consider the equitable distribution of work force and resources in general practice. I expect to receive its recommendations shortly.
§ Mr. MullinIn so far as I understand the funding arrangements for GPs, they are ring-fenced and cannot be used to employ GPs on a salaried basis, for example. One effect of that is that places such as Sunderland—which has difficulty attracting its full quota of GPs—effectively subsidise places such as Buckinghamshire. Does my hon. Friend consider that to be satisfactory? If not, will something be done about it?
§ Mr. DenhamI personally have nothing at all against Buckinghamshire, but my hon. Friend raises an important point. It is not possible simply to take money notionally allocated to pay a GP under the general medical services budget and reallocate it to a different use. However, health authorities can use the personal medical pilot scheme to create positions for salaried doctors, as well as to vary, by agreement, the contractual arrangements with GPs. I know that Sunderland is keen to use that mechanism to deal with the shortage of GPs.
It is also worth stating that recruitment difficulties are not the only problem, including in Sunderland. Some GPs with large lists are reluctant to advertise for partners, for example. We need to address a range of matters with health authorities if we are to tackle the problems that my hon. Friend raises.
§ Mr. Stephen Dorrell (Charnwood)Might not the Minister also have referred to low rates of recruitment into general practice from among medical students? Is he satisfied with the number who go on to train as GPs, and if he is not, what will he do about it?
§ Mr. DenhamI am pleased that the latest national GP recruitment figures are encouraging. A 7.7 per cent. increase in GP registrars shows that many medical students see general practice as an important and fulfilling career. We shall train more medical students, and we announced nearly 800 additional places last week. I am confident that many students will go into general practice as they see our reforms putting GPs and nurses in the driving seat in the new NHS.