About RCGP

Priority 1: Tackle the workload and workforce crisis

We must break the vicious cycle of a shrinking workforce and an ever-increasing workload. Only by doing this can we make general practice an attractive career and halt the current exodus of GPs. This is necessary not only to protect the mental health and wellbeing of GPs, but as a matter of patient safety and to ensure the future sustainability of general practice, and the NHS itself.

We know that patients value general practice, yet because of the pressures on accessing appointments, satisfaction with the service that it provides has declined significantly. If the profession is to retain the support and trust of the public, we must engage with patients to reinvigorate the doctor-patient relationship, and to ensure that they know how and when to access care. We must also involve them in supporting the development of new models of service provision, such as the introduction of new roles and the use of digital technology.

We will do this by taking the following action:

GP workforce and workload

• Highlight the pressures on general practice and provide solutions that can be adopted into political manifestos and by the NHS, in line with the requirements documented in the RCGP's Fit for the Future campaign.
• Campaign for a funded plan to increase the size of the GP workforce over the long-term, by increasing the number of UK-trained medical students who enter GP training and supporting retention of GPs through a national GP Retention Programme.
• Lobby for initiatives to boost GP retention at all career stages, including the development of enhanced support for newly qualified GPs, and promotion of innovative retention schemes for mid- and late-career GPs.
• Develop measures to tackle unmanageable workload, reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and prevent the un-resourced transfer of workload from secondary to primary care.

Multi-disciplinary teams

• Work in partnership with other organisations and professional bodies to develop a College offer to members of the wider general practice team.
• Promote the effective utilisation of the multi-disciplinary team in general practice to deliver high quality patient care and to relieve workload pressures.
• Engage in discussions on the potential for specialty and associate specialist doctor roles in general practice and develop national standards for the accreditation and supervision of these, while championing the unique role of the GP.

Public communication and impact

• Work with patient groups to improve public understanding of general practice, and to support practices in communicating with patients about how and when to access GP services.
• Identify and promote good practice in the development and implementation of patient access, to provide an efficient and patient-centred service.

Priority 2: Ensure the College is the professional home of general practice

The College must be the professional home for all GPs, where they can access the resources, support, and professional friendships they need to flourish in their careers and invest in their professional future. We need to equip our members with the skills they require to deliver complex care in a challenging environment and to promote a culture of inclusion within the profession.

We will do this by taking the following action:

• Ensure the College is a welcoming professional home to all our trainees, members, and fellows, following the principles of equality, diversity, and inclusivity, and fostering increased diversity of representation within the College.
• Strengthen the College's membership offer to GP trainees and develop and launch a new MRCGP examination.
• Enhance and expand the College’s continuing professional development offer, ensuring it remains relevant and contemporary.
• Play a leading role in tackling the barriers and discrimination faced by international medical graduates and ethnic minority GPs throughout their careers.
• Improve support and networking opportunities for grassroots GPs by expanding the reach of the College's local Faculties, mentoring programme and online communities.

Priority 3: Reduce the increasing gap in health inequalities

As family practitioners, GPs sit at the heart of their communities and have a unique understanding of their patients and the realities they face. In the context of growing health inequalities, and the adverse impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, the profession must act to protect those most at risk, by identifying and prioritising their needs and advocating on their behalf.

We will do this by taking the following action:

At GP/practice level: education, training, guidance and support

• Increase awareness amongst GPs and their teams of health inequalities and the impact of wider determinants of health.
• Develop guidance on practical steps GPs and practices can take, to tackle health inequalities of access and clinical outcomes and improve population health, focussing on the most vulnerable groups within practices’ localities.
• Ensure that health inequalities remain well-covered within the RCGP curriculum and within the MRCGP examination.

At Cluster/ICB/national level: health policy

• Support the development of networks of GPs and practices engaged in tackling health inequalities, working with local communities and third sector partners.
• Identify and share good practice in reducing health inequalities of access, experience and clinical outcomes, and shape national health policy initiatives to foster and support its adoption.
• Work with external stakeholders to advocate for those most affected by the cost-of-living crisis and campaign for decisive government action to close the health inequalities gap.
• Develop an advocacy strategy that raises awareness of the social determinants of health amongst policymakers and NHS leaders.

At RCGP level

• Support the growth of an engaged and inclusive health inequalities group, and connections with relevant external organisations such as the Inequalities in Health Alliance.
• Support links with Deep End practices across the UK.

Priority 4: Respond to the climate emergency

The climate and ecological emergency poses a threat not only to the future of the planet but to our health and the NHS too. Greener general practice can improve health outcomes, decrease workload and reduce health inequalities. The College has an important role in supporting members and general practice in delivering a critical strand of the NHS's target of net zero, and addressing the wider holistic issues encompassed by planetary health.

We will do this by taking the following action:

At GP/practice levels: education, training and support

• Increase awareness amongst GPs of the health impacts of planetary health and of the ways in which carbon emissions, air pollution, pharmaceuticals in water and other environmental threats affect health.
• Support practices to deliver reductions in carbon emissions and improvements in care, according to planetary health principles, through the primary care development net zero programme and other related tools.
• Ensure that planetary health is well established in the RCGP curriculum and within the MRCGP examination.

At cluster/ICB/national level: health policy

• Engage with ICBs in England and clusters in the devolved nations to raise awareness and encourage delivery of sustainable healthcare in general practice.
• As part of the College's policy and campaigning work, incorporate clear policy asks to support general practice to improve the energy efficiency of its estates and implement climate adaptation strategies.
• Contribute to efforts to reduce general practice's carbon footprint by lobbying, engaging and advising on sustainable prescribing.

At RCGP level

• Deliver significant near- and medium-term reductions in the College's carbon emissions on a path to global net zero by 2050.
• Support the development of an engaged and inclusive sustainable healthcare special interest group, and connections with relevant external organisations such as the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, and Greener Practice.