Special At least 13 PCNs recruited GPs through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) in the first few weeks of the launch of the new £82m funding pot.

A month-long Pulse survey to mid-October revealed that 13 PCNs were ‘already hiring a GP’ through ARRS, while more than a third of GP respondents joining their PCN said they were ‘planning’ to do so.

The survey question covered 276 different PCNs, and just under a third of these respondents said they did not plan to hire a GP. ARRS not at all and 29% have not yet decided.

Many PCN leaders told Pulse that the reimbursement only covers a small number of sessions and is used to recruit GPs, whom they would hire independently of the new program.

Minister of health at the beginning of August Wes Streeting announced It was stated that the ARRS scheme will be extended to general practitioners for the first time as an ’emergency measure’ for 2024/25.

Since 1 October, PCNs have been offered a ‘ring-fenced’ funding pot of £82 million to recruit GPs who have qualified within the last two years.

Dorset GP partner and PCN clinical director Dr. Simone Yule said the extra funding was ‘incidental’ as the newly qualified GP her practice wanted to employ started working in October and was ‘linked to the new GP ARRS role’.

He told Pulse that money is ‘particularly’ useful right now. Increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions recently announced The cost of his practice is estimated at £81,000, roughly the same as a GP salary.

Dr Yule added: ‘I think for once in our lives we were quite lucky to be where we are.

‘We would have hired him anyway but it actually just bolstered our recruitment opportunities. And in fact now, with employers’ National Insurance and the rise in the living wage, in hindsight we probably couldn’t afford those hires.’

He also told Pulse that the new ARRS GP would be based solely in his practice and that this had been agreed as he and the other practice in PCN worked together to ‘carefully balance their books’.

South West London GP partner Dr. Nick Grundy said the extra money meant his PCN could employ a practitioner who was an intern in his practice and did locum work.

The fund only pays for about two sessions per week at one practice; this was agreed with three other practices in the PCN due to inadequate spend in other ARRS roles.

Dr Grundy said: ‘This was easier for us because not enough money was being spent on other roles in our PCN, so we had some money left over. So they were happy for us to use the GP’s funding in our own practice.

‘But in other PCNs I think it’s a bit tricky because everyone has to be on the same page and if you split that extra money four or five ways it doesn’t benefit anyone. That’s why you need to reach an agreement within the PCN.’

‘It’s a shame that it’s based on good will, because if you don’t have that it’s a problem,’ he added.

Another GP partner, based in Northampton, said they were ‘really lucky’ as they were already ‘in the middle of GP restructuring and recruitment’ and had now recruited four new GPs in total.

But he said the £44,000 refund would cover ‘almost nothing’ in terms of sessions. The GP will hold most of their sessions in their own practice and ‘a few hours a week’ in another practice within the PCN.

‘The money is pretty good, but even without that we’d still do it. So it was really lucky timing.”

The same GP partner, who wished to remain anonymous, said of the ARRS scheme: ‘I think it is useful, but it does not offer a solution either in terms of numbers or certainty of employment.

‘There are far more unemployed, newly qualified GPs than this scheme can support and it does not give them the long-term continuity they need.

‘And I think they’re very thinly spread, especially in PCNs where there’s more practice, which is really difficult when you’re newly qualified. ‘The reimbursement for practices that are not in our situation, that are not hiring anyway, doesn’t cover this at all.’

GP partner at Your Health Partnership in the West Midlands, Dr. Simon Mitchell said the extra money ‘fits very well into the recruitment process we already have in place’.

But he told Pulse his practice’s situation was “a bit unusual” because they were “vertically integrated” into Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals, which is a significant trust.

Dr Mitchell said: ”OK, how many clinics will GP practice A or B work in? Or how do we make it fair?”

‘It fit perfectly within our existing delivery model, and because we were also integrated with serious trust, we didn’t feel the financial danger of not knowing exactly what would happen next year with ARRS funding.

‘So we were able to take risks and recruit and take advantage of the fact that we had some good candidates at a certain point.’

He suggested that ‘working at scale’ could enable ‘some of the rules and processes’ around ARRS to ‘work a little better and a little more smoothly’.

In the latest guidance for GPs recruited through the ARRS, BMA recommended That they only work on a ‘limited’ number of applications on their PCN.

The union’s interim GP committee said patients ‘deserve continuity of care’ and this could only be achieved if the GP working under the scheme had ‘dedicated workplaces’.

Mr Streeting approved Last month it was said that funding for GPs would ‘continue beyond March’ next year to provide ‘certainty and stability’.

This survey was conducted through our sister title Pulse PCN and was open between September 19 and October 18, 2024, with responses compiled using the SurveyMonkey tool. After removing duplicate entries from the same PCN, a total of 276 GPs with decision-making roles in their PCN in England responded to these questions. The survey was announced to our readers via our website and email newsletter, along with a prize draw of a £200 John Lewis voucher as an incentive for completing the survey. The survey is not weighted and we do not claim it is scientific; just a snapshot of the GP population.