Thought I would share some interesting facts; General Practice Nurses (GPNs) are delivering 84 million consultations per annum.
As of March 2023, there were 16,853 full time equivalent (FTE) Nurses working in General Practice (GPN) in England; an increase of 2% (391 FTE) against the March 2019 baseline. The biggest loss in FTE can be seen for GPNs whilst Advanced Nurse Practitioners (APs) account for the biggest increase.
We could hypothesise that this rise in AP numbers is due to GPNs wanting to progress to AP or with a cynical eye, is this rise due to APs now able to be employed under the ARRS scheme?
Although there are pockets of small growth in the totality of GPNs across primary care, significant issues around retention and development remain.
Within the last year we have had the Fuller stocktake report and the Sonnet report both highlighting the contribution that nursing makes in primary care.
It's good to see in print what we already know about general practice nursing. And the plans to recruit more GPNs should be celebrated, however, without investment in the infrastructure I am not sure how effective this will be
And if there isn't enough to keep us occupied, we have another document to digest. In June the Government published its much anticipated ‘NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’. The [15-year] plan provides a blue print for future workforce growth, retention and development. There is much to digest, but what is clear is that reforms to primary care form a central plank of the Government's plan. Of note is the proposed development of a national, multi-professional, integrated community and primary care core capability framework to support workforce development.
Of particular relevance to GPNs is the proposal to increase the number of non-GP direct patient care staff by around 15,000 while the number of ‘primary care nurses’ is set to rise by more than 5,000. Taken together this represents an increase of 20,000 new non-GP direct patient care staff by 2036/37. However only 25% of these staff will be nurses. Perhaps it is time that nursing/GPNs were also recognised as an ARRS role, after all nursing/GPNs is currently and will continue to be central to the Government's ambition for a multi-professional integrated community and primary care workforce.
There is though much to welcome within the plan, particularly the emphasis on supporting the recommendations from the Fuller stocktake report around innovative employment models and adoption of NHS terms and conditions in primary care. Watch this space: change is coming; and everyone working in general practice – especially GPNs – needs to be ready, and set to embrace and influence the next 15 years.
What are your thoughts? We would love to hear from you.
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