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<p>NHS England and Health Education England (HEE) are working together with the profession
to increase the general practitioner (GP) workforce. This includes measures to boost
recruitment, address the reasons why GPs are leaving the profession, and encourage
GPs to return to practice.</p><p> </p><p>There is a broad offer available to support
GPs to remain in the National Health Service including the GP Health Service, the
GP Retention Scheme, and the GP Retention Fund.</p><p> </p><p>In May 2018, NHS England
launched the £10 million GP Retention Fund, comprising of the Local Retention Fund
(£7 million) and the Intensive Support Areas (£3 million) which will help GPs stay
in the workforce by promoting new ways of working and offering additional support.</p><p>
</p><p>Recognising that workload is one of the biggest issues impacting retention,
NHS England is investing £30 million in the Releasing Time for Care Programme, which
aims to help practices reduce their workload through spreading awareness of innovations
and facilitating local programmes.</p><p> </p><p>Getting the skills mix right in general
practice is also critical in addressing workload pressures as well as in delivering
appropriate patient care. This will mean bigger teams of staff, providing a wider
range of care options for patients and freeing up more time for GPs to focus on those
with more complex needs. As of September 2018, there were over 3,700 more clinical
staff, excluding GPs, working in general practice since 2015; consisting of over 600
more nurses and over 3,000 more other direct patient care.</p><p> </p><p>In addition
to this work, the General Practice Partnership Review, an independent review into
the partnership model to which practices work, will deliver its final report early
this year. The independent review will consider key questions around workforce and
workload and make a number of recommendations with the aim of ensuring general practice
remains an excellent place to work.</p>
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