RCGP hails bureaucracy-cutting plan ‘encouraging first step’ in cutting unnecessary red tape in general practice

Responding to the ‘bureaucracy busting concordat’ published by the Department of Health and Social Care this morning, Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said the following. 

“The College has long-called for efforts to be made to cut unnecessary red tape in general practice, which only serves to keep GPs away from frontline patient care. So we support the aims of this concordat.

“GPs and their teams make the vast majority of NHS patient contacts, in turn alleviating pressures across the health service – but they are working to their limits, in some cases burning out, and needless bureaucracy is contributing to this.

“The measures outlined in this concordat, such as limiting government requests of GPs, are an encouraging first step that should help free up GPs’ time to spend with patients. But proper implementation will be critical to deliver meaningful reductions in workload for general practice. We urge the Government to ensure the principles of the concordat are entrenched in every department.

“As well as steps to cut bureaucracy, we need the Government to heed the calls of our Fit for the Future campaign to address the spiralling workload and workforce pressures in general practice. We want to see a new recruitment and retention strategy that goes beyond the target of 6,000 GPs pledged by government in their election manifesto. Plus, investment in our IT systems and premises, so that we can deliver the safe high-quality care that our patients need and deserve.”

Further information

RCGP Press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editor

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 52,000 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.