Report Long read

Supporting general practice at scale: fit for 2024/25 and beyond

11 October 2023

Tangible actions to address some of the immediate pressures facing general practice and primary care networks across the country.

Key points

This report summarises the key findings from the Primary Care Network's engagement with members on the state of general practice and primary care more broadly. Through this work we have identified local innovators breaking down barriers and untapped potential in integrated working, as well as bureaucracy slowing down improvements and variation in the parity of esteem between primary care and other system partners.
As a result, we have identified a set of tangible recommendations for the upcoming GP and primary care network (PCN) contracts for 2024/25 and a series of non-contractual recommendations that we believe will enable general practice and at-scale primary care to best deliver for patients in the short and medium term. The overarching focus of these recommendations is to:

Increase trust and flexibility through the contracts so primary care can deliver for local people based on local needs, with a key focus on prevention and addressing health inequalities.
Support the basic infrastructure with dedicated funding and funding uplifts that mirror the rest of the system.
Make primary care a more attractive place to work.
Where possible, use contractual and non-contractual levers to make it easier for primary care to work with the rest of the system within a local community.