General Practice Premises Policy Review - Call for Solutions

Overview

NHS England, with the Department of Health and Social Care, is working collaboratively with the GPC, RCGP and other stakeholders to undertake a review of General Practice Premises Policy. The review will seek to identify how we can ensure that general practice premises are fit for purpose, both now and in the future. As part of the review we will seek to:

• undertake a data collection exercise to inform the review outputs and identify where gaps in data relating to general practice exist.
• understand the issues and barriers currently affecting general practice estate.
• propose recommendations for the ownership and operating models for general practice estate which address the identified barriers and enable the delivery of premises which are fit for current and future purpose.

Suitable premises are vital for the delivery of high quality care. There are a range of barriers which have been raised so far in the review. These include:

• the liabilities for GP partners associated with estate ownership or lease-holding (also known as ‘last partner standing’);
• a perception that estate ownership is unattractive and may be putting off prospective GP Partners from entering into partnerships;
• sub-optimal  utilisation of estate;
• mixed use, particularly of new builds, can be difficult to achieve due to balance of liability across the different parties involved;
• revenue implications of estate preventing developments.

Within the scope of the review NHS England is holding a four week open call for solutions via which it is inviting submissions from interested stakeholders. We welcome a range of proposals, from those designed to address specific issues to those which would require a more significant system reconfiguration. 

The open call will run from 8 August to 5 September 2018.

The call for solutions pack sets out further information about what the review is considering and how you can submit a response. We encourage you to read the call for solutions pack before submitting your response.

• Call for solutions pack

You can respond by

• Online survey: the online survey can be accessed by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.
• Post: Alternatively, if you can’t respond online you can post your response(s) to New Business Models, Area 3D NHS England, Skipton House, 80 London Road, London SE1 6LH

If you have any questions or other enquiries about the call, please get in touch with the team at England.GPpremisesreview@nhs.net.