Getting the GP estate and NHS funding flows fit for the shift to neighbourhood health – MPs quiz experts
The Health and Social Care Committee will examine what the Government should do to make the general practice estate fit for its plans to move health services into local neighbourhoods.
Meeting details
The full schedule of witnesses for this session is listed below and includes the Royal College of General Practitioners, Primary Health Properties PLC, and representatives of Integrated Care Boards and local authorities.
GPs will play a key role in the ‘shift to neighbourhood health’, where various clinical services will be relocated into local communities rather than major hospitals.
Evidence received by the Committee suggests the GP estate is ageing and lacking space, and that this plays into problems with recruitment and retention.
The cross-party Committee will look at the barriers to GP practices expanding to meet increasing demand. There may also be questions on how GPs will interact with the Government’s new Neighbourhood Health Centre plans, and whether it would be practical for GPs to operate outside of their own practices.
There will also be questions about difficulties that GPs experience in the planning process and governance.
In the second panel, MPs will take a close look at the fragmented estate funding streams available to local NHS and third sector services that come, often with strict controls, via Integrated Care Boards and local authorities.
The King’s Fund has said collaborative use of the estate is required to fulfil the neighbourhood health ambition, but this is often hampered by financial rules applicable for different sectors and organisations.
At the same time, the Committee has seen large appetite from non-NHS and community spaces to be involved in neighbourhood health, including gyms, leisure centres, aquatic centres, libraries, faith buildings, educational facilities, and hospices.