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The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has urged the government to allocate at least £2 billion in funding to enhance the 'outdated' GP infrastructure, including IT systems and practice buildings. The College, representing over 54,000 family doctors in the UK - has warned that GP practice buildings are "falling apart" and this can have a serious impact on patients' experience and access to care and services. In a recent poll of RCGP members, a third of the GPs (30 per cent) reported that their work PC or laptop software is "not fit for purpose", while 33 per cent indicated that their practice building is inadequate for providing care for patients. Additionally, 56 per cent of GPs reported that they could not effectively exchange information with NHS trusts due to fundamental inadequacies in their digital infrastructure. RCGP stated: "If GPs are unable to easily share information with hospitals and other secondary care hubs this can lead to disjointed care and a poorer patient experience.

The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has warned that patients in deprived areas could face even greater difficulty accessing GP services if funding for the Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme (TERS) is withdrawn. In a letter to NHS England, the College is calling for confirmation that TERS will be extended for 2025/26 and beyond. The scheme, launched in 2016, was designed to attract GP trainees to economically disadvantaged areas, where healthcare provision has historically been inadequate. TERS offers a one-off payment of £20,000 to GP trainees who commit to working in hard-to-recruit-to locations. Over the years, the scheme has successfully recruited over 2,000 GPs. However, with funding for 2025/26 yet to be confirmed, the RCGP is worried that it could be cut from April. The College has expressed concern that discontinuing the scheme could "make it even more difficult to recruit GPs to work in deprived and under-doctored areas where patients are already significantly disadvantaged compared to those in more affluent areas of the country."

The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has called on the government to increase investment in general practice, stating that they are now "seriously struggling" due to years of underfunding and neglect. As evidence of the mounting workload pressures faced by GPs, new research published by the RCGP has revealed that GPs are now responsible for an average of 2,300 patients each. Concerningly, the ratio has become even worse in areas of higher deprivation, where the need is greatest. The RCGP research found that over the past six years, the average number of patients per GP in areas with the highest level of income deprivation has risen by 260, marking a 12 per cent increase-nearly double the rate observed in the least deprived areas. In these areas, one GP is responsible for 2,450 patients, which is over 300 more patients than their counterparts in the least deprived regions. Addressing the RCGP's annual conference 2024 in Liverpool on Thursday, College Chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: "When I became a GP, it was normal to have a list size between 1,600-1,800 patients. The role was busy and challenging, but it was manageable. Our latest figures reveal that the average is now 2,300.