The inclusion of nurses within the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) is set to be reviewed, NHS England (NHSE) has confirmed.
It comes after news today that GPs will be added to the scheme – which is used by primary care networks to reimburse the salaries of some staff – in an ‘emergency measure’ for 2024/25.
In a letter to GPs today, health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said he recognised there had been calls for both practice nurses and GPs to be added to the scheme.
However, he said ‘some nurses are already within the scheme’ and that he wanted to, for now, ‘address the specific challenge of GP employment’. He added that the government would keep ‘the whole scheme under review’.
But in today’s Primary Care Bulletin, NHSE went further and said: ‘Some nurses are already within the scheme, but it is recognised other nurses are not included and therefore this will be reviewed.’
Earlier this year, the enhanced practice nurse role was added to the ARRS – and was designed to be a role that delivers ‘enhanced clinical care’ and to act as a ‘clinical role model’ for evidence-based practice.
Nursing associates and advanced nurse practitioners are also already included within the scheme.
The government said this morning that the addition of GPs to the ARRS would aim to see the recruitment of more than 1,000 newly qualified GPs.
And it said that adding GPs to the scheme would be paid for with £82m from existing budget.
The news comes as GPs have voted to take ‘collective action’ after an overwhelming ballot result.
Led by the British Medical Association, possible actions include refusing to share patient data unless it is in the best interests of a patient, referring patients directly to specialist care rather than following longer and more complex NHS processes, and switching off NHS software.
It also comes amid confirmation that general practice nurses (GPNs) in England should be given a 6% pay rise, following recommendations from the doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration review body.
In his letter today, Mr Streeting mentioned the 6% uplift awarded to GPs ‘and their staff’.
He described the 6% uplift and the addition of GPs to ARRS as ‘simply the first steps towards more sustainable general practice’.
Mr Streeting also insisted that he had ‘spent a lot of time in recent years seeing first-hand the day-to-day reality of challenges in general practice, often quite literally looking over the shoulders of GPs and practice staff to understand the pressures you face’.
