GPs in one region of England may have to shoulder an increasing burden of patient care as part of radical plans to transform general practice.
Nottinghamshire’s draft sustainability and transformation plan (STP) – the blueprints for the future of the NHS currently being designed across England – has outlined how resources will be shifted to primary care following the merger of two acute care trusts.
The area is facing a funding shortfall of £500m by 2020 if it does nothing to reshape its services.
And David Pearson, STP lead for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, said that the merger of the Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust in 2017 ‘provides an opportunity’ to rethink the system.
NHS England are looking to increase the amount of services provided by primary care providers, in line with its Five Year Forward View plan to move towards new models providing both primary and secondary care.