Six areas of England and Wales, including Wolverhampton, are moving towards a mass salaried model replacing the current previous GP partnerships in place.
GPs across the UK are moving into a salaried system to work under hospital trusts, GP federations and the new models of care promoted by NHS England, a Pulse investigation revealed.
Workload pressures and fear of becoming the ‘last man standing’ sparked the move.
The switch may have been influenced by GPs in Gosport, Hampshire, who have undertaken a new ‘employed’ status, working under the local community trust.
“Coming from a historically low point, we are realistic about the help available to enable us to deliver the range and quality of care we desire to provide,” said Dr Stuart Morgan, a senior partner at the Brune practice in Gosport.
Pulse report that there are a number of areas around the UK where GP partners have been packing up their practices to work as salaried GPs under larger organisations.
Wolverhampton has reportedly launched a pilot project, which will see a number of GP practices employed by the Royal Wolverhampton NHS hospitals trust.
“We want to see a better service for patients and less stress for GPs. We have lost the grief of being a small business and issues with staff,” said Dr Julian Parkes, a Wolverhampton GP who has just become salaried under the Royal Wolverhampton Trust.
Elsewhere, a Hull local GP federation has taken over the management of two GP practices after being approached from partners, who have opted to salary GPs, while 10 practices in Somerset may be subject to a new model of care run by a local trust.
GPs in Sheffield and Wales are also looking to move into a salaried scheme, while Scotland, where salaried systems are becoming ever more prominent, remain cautious of the move, following an 85 per cent vote to retain independent contractor status.
“Salaried options will remain and are the current default if a practice becomes unsustainable but we believe the future is a strong, modern independent contractor GP model leading a broader primary health care team to better outcomes for patients,” said Scotland GPC chair Dr Alan McDevitt
In May, Pulse also revealed that 51 per cent of partners in the UK would consider going salaried themselves if the right deal was presented, compared to just 26 per cent last October.
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