‘Little capacity’ to deliver NHS reforms without primary care investment

The government has been warned there is ‘little capacity’ to deliver its reforms to the NHS without further investment in primary care, in a joint statement from five national primary care bodies.

Community Pharmacy England (CPE), the General Practitioner’s Committee England (GPCE) and others have joined forces following last week’s spending review to reiterate their call on the government to prioritise Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spending allocations towards primary care.

The government announced a £29bn real terms increase in annual NHS day-to-day spending from 2023-24 to 2028-29 in its spending review last week and the health secretary reiterated his commitment to shift care towards the community.

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In a joint statement the primary care bodies warned: ‘Due to the pressures all parts of primary care are facing due to an historic focus on specialist settings, bureaucracy, and poor workforce planning by NHS England – as well as funding cuts to some of our sectors – it is clear there is little capacity to deliver the reforms needed, and improve the care people receive closer to home, without further investment in primary care.’

The bodies say they are briefing MPs and asking them to ‘raise the need for primary care to be fully resourced, following the outcome of the spending review in upcoming Parliamentary debates and discussions, in line with this joint statement’.

They welcomed ‘the DHSC’s number one priority, to shift care from hospitals to community, and move from sickness to prevention’, and stressed that ‘primary care providers will be instrumental in driving this reform and are enthusiastic about working together to support these critical shifts’.

As part of the spending review it was also announced that the DHSC capital budget will increase by £2.3bn in real terms by 2029-30.

The primary care leaders added: ‘The decision regarding allocations within the DHSC budget is the single opportunity in this Parliamentary cycle to transform investment into primary care.’

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‘Of the 1.5 million patients treated by the NHS each day, over three quarters of these interactions take place within the primary care setting: their sole NHS experience. The key to future election success lies with us, working with you.’

They added: ‘We look forward to further details and meaningful actions to be announced in the coming days and we urge the government to work closely with us, as your primary care bodies, to begin the long-term process to rebuild primary care and help deliver on the government’s priorities for the NHS as part of the 10 year plan.

‘This includes implementing patient-centred, more efficient ways of working and fully funded primary care expansion plans linked to investment directives, cementing primary care’s ole in planning, designing and leading healthcare delivery.’

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The statement was signed by signed by Janet Morrison, CPE chief executive, Katie Bramall-Stainer, GPCE chair, Shiv Pabary, chair of the British Dental Association’s (BDA) General Dental Practice Committee (GDPC), Paul Carroll, chair of the Optometric Fees Negotiating Committee (OFNC) and Harjit Sandhu, chief executive of the National Association for Primary Care Audiology Providers (NAPCAP).

Speaking at NHS Confed Expo, NHS England’s national director for primary care and community services Dr Amanda Doyle said community pharmacy was ‘increasingly emerging as a key clinical service provider in primary care and we need that to grow’.