GP Forward View – implications for GP nurses

The publication of the GP Forward View in April has been hailed as a step change in the level of investment and support for General Practice with recurrent funding set to increase by around £2.4 billion a year by 2020/21 with an additional ‘turnaround package’ of a further £500 million.

The stated intent to transform services will be built around patients and the wider workforce as primary care is reorganised. It is anticipated that a greater use of skill mix will increase capacity in order to offer patients with complex needs longer consultations. This will require ‘better use of the talents in the wider workforce’ including GPNs, nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, physician associates, physiotherapists and paramedics.”

An extra £15 million will be invested in general practice nurse development and will include support for return to work schemes, improving training capacity in general practice for nurses, increases in the number of placements for pre-qualifying nurse students and further measures to improve retention. This includes roll out of the recently published HEE District nursing and GP practice nursing education and career framework and implementation of the Queen’s Nursing Institute Voluntary Standards for Education and Practice for District and General Practice nursing.

Also of interest to GPNs there will be a new ‘streamline’ approach to CQC inspections with a reduction to every 5 years in inspections for practices rated good and outstanding and a successor to the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). Although QOF has contributed to the creation of one of the best public health databases some argue that it has become barrier to the holistic management of health conditions.

Look out too for further moves to encourage practices to work at scale, either as practice groups or federations. As described in the Five Year Forward View there will be a new Multispeciality Community Provider (MCP) contract aimed at creating opportunities for more joined up primary care and community services based on the GP registered list. The MCP model is currently being developed by 14 MCP vanguards across the country and NHS England is due to publish the MCP Care Model Framework shortly.

Zoë Berry
Director General Practice Nurse Programme Thames Valley
zoe.berry@thamesvalley.hee.nhs.uk