The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has warned that patients in deprived areas could face even greater difficulty accessing GP services if funding for the Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme (TERS) is withdrawn.
In a letter to NHS England, the College is calling for confirmation that TERS will be extended for 2025/26 and beyond.
The scheme, launched in 2016, was designed to attract GP trainees to economically disadvantaged areas, where healthcare provision has historically been inadequate.
TERS offers a one-off payment of £20,000 to GP trainees who commit to working in hard-to-recruit-to locations. Over the years, the scheme has successfully recruited over 2,000 GPs.
However, with funding for 2025/26 yet to be confirmed, the RCGP is worried that it could be cut from April.
The College has expressed concern that discontinuing the scheme could “make it even more difficult to recruit GPs to work in deprived and under-doctored areas where patients are already significantly disadvantaged compared
to those in more affluent areas of the country.”