RCGP responds to the King’s Speech

Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown, President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said:  

“The College has always supported the Government’s ambition to move more NHS care out of hospitals and into local communities - this is where care is most cost-effective and where patients want to be treated - but we have always been clear that to be successful, this shift must be adequately resourced. As such, we look forward to seeing further details of the new NHS Modernisation Bill, announced today. 

“General practice must be at the heart of any reforms to the NHS, with both GPs and patients fully involved in the design of local services and decision making. We are, therefore, highly concerned by proposals that could reduce the voices of GPs and their patients within local NHS structures. We will want to see the detail of the Bill to ensure these voices are properly represented. 

“GPs and our teams are often patients’ first point of contact with the health service. We play a vital role in coordinating their care and helping them stay well in their communities. We know our patients and understand the health needs of our communities deeply, so the College believes there should be a GP on every ICB to help ensure local decision-making reflects patients’ needs and frontline clinical experience. GPs are uniquely positioned within the NHS because we care for patients across the whole pathway of care and often over many years, giving us a detailed understanding of how different parts of the health system interact in practice, where pressures emerge, and where patients can fall through gaps between services. That insight should be represented in local NHS leadership and decision-making. Strong partnership working across primary, community and secondary care will be essential to delivering these reforms successfully.

“Shifting more care into the community must also be matched with sustained investment in general practice - including in our GP workforce, premises and technology. General practice continues to deliver the vast majority of patient contacts across the NHS and must be resourced accordingly if the Government’s ambitions for community-based care are to succeed.

“Alongside this, we are encouraged by efforts to modernise the NHS and improve the way information is shared across the health service. Done well, this has the potential to improve patients’ experiences of care and reduce fragmentation between services. But any move towards a Single Patient Record must be carefully considered and evaluated, and include robust safeguards to protect patient confidentiality and ensure public trust.  

“This Bill also presents an opportunity to properly recognise the expertise of GPs as specialist clinicians, including through delivering on the Government’s commitment to merge the current GP and Specialist General Medical Council Registers. 

“Above all, any changes to the NHS must make it easier for patients to access safe, timely and joined-up care and that will only happen if general practice is properly valued and resourced, with enough GPs working within it.” 

On the Draft Conversion Practices Bill

"We were also pleased to see the announcement of the Draft Conversion Practices Bill. The College has long called for a ban on conversion therapy, which protects all LGBT+ people, and we look forward to engaging in any pre-legislative scrutiny associated with the Bill." 

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659

press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.