Patients in deprived areas face even harder struggle to see a GP in the future, warns College

Patients in vast swathes of the country could find it even harder to see a GP in the future if vital funding to attract doctors to deprived areas is withdrawn, warns the Royal College of GPs.

The College has written to NHS England asking for a guarantee that the Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme (TERS) will continue to be funded for 2025/26 and beyond.

The scheme was established in 2016 to help attract GP trainees into economically deprived areas – last year approximately 700 places were available and overall, the scheme has attracted over 2000 GPs to train in communities that have historically found it difficult to access healthcare.

TERS offers a one-off payment of £20,000 to GP trainees who commit to working in hard-to-recruit-to locations and between 2018 and 2022, the latest available data, 2,130 roles were recruited through the scheme. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the scheme not only encourages GP trainees to move to these areas but also put down roots and stay in the communities.

However, funding for 2025/26 has still not been confirmed by NHSE or the Government, and the College fears there is a real danger it will be cut from April – making 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.

In the most deprived areas of England there are 2,450 patients per full time, fully qualified GP – over 300 more patients per GP than in more affluent areas of the country. These ratios mean that patients in poorer areas are less likely to receive the care they need, leading to higher levels of long-term sickness and serious health problems.

The areas with the highest numbers of places available through the TERS scheme in 2024/25 were Durham and Tees Valley (60), Dewsbury, Pontefract & Wakefield (47) and Sherwood Forest (36).

The Government has made a manifesto commitment to halving the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions in England, but the College is warning that cutting the scheme would be a ‘step backwards’ in achieving this goal.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs said: “It’s alarming to see a scheme that has provided our patients with much-needed access to GPs now under threat. The TERS has successfully attracted thousands of GP trainees to work in areas that they might previously not have considered, and which desperately need more GPs. It has led to clear benefits, including improved patient access, continuity of care, and long-term workforce retention.

“We would argue that almost all areas are under-doctored to some extent, and we are still in the middle of a UK-wide workforce crisis, but this situation is especially acute in deprived areas - a GP in Kingston upon Thames looks after 1,800 patients while a GP in Kingston upon Hull, one of the most deprived places in England, is expected to cover twice that number.

“Evidence has shown that a lower ratio of patients per GP improves patient satisfaction, enhances health outcomes, and improves continuity of care— the cornerstones of general practice. If more deprived areas have significantly worse ratios, then GPs are working way beyond their capacity and, despite their best efforts, patients in these areas are going to have a worse experience.

“We know that our patients from deprived areas are more likely to experience long-term and complex illnesses. They need GPs in their community to care for them and help them live healthier and longer lives.

“This scheme encourages our excellent GP trainees to take roles in more deprived areas of the country, put down roots and become part of the community.

“Cutting this funding would be a major step backwards for the Government’s manifesto commitment to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy across the UK. The continuation of TERS is important if we are to attract and retain GPs in these areas and truly tackle health inequalities for our patients.”

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.