6 | Nursing in Practice | Spring 2023
COVER STORY
How are the new roles in PCNs
impacting nurses in general practice ?
The rapid emergence of a variety of additional roles in general practice has boosted the primary care workforce as a whole but , asks Kathy Oxtoby , does this bring disruption for nurses , whose role has been established in practice teams for decades ?
General practice nurses are under greater pressure than ever , dealing with a growing backlog of care and an ongoing shortage of staff . A government scheme that offers funding to primary care networks ( PCNs ) to boost the number of healthcare professionals working in general practice could therefore be seen as a welcome step towards easing this workload burden .
Introduced in 2019 , NHS England ’ s Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme ( ARRS ) has been supporting the recruitment of additional staff – including pharmacists , physiotherapists , podiatrists and paramedics .
This continues to expand at pace . To help PCNs build the teams they need , NHSE recently announced changes to the ARRS , including adding advanced clinical practitioner nurses to the reimbursable roles , raising the cap on advanced practitioners to three per PCN , and removing the cap on mental health practitioners .
According to NHSE , there were 25,262 ARRS staff as of 31 December 2022 , with PCNs a year ahead of schedule to meet the 26,000 target for March 2024 . The figure was a significant rise from the 14,069 reported a year earlier . However , research by the King ’ s Fund warned that while
PCNs swiftly recruited to these roles , ‘ they are not being implemented and integrated into primary care teams effectively ’.
What do general practice nurses think about ARRS ? Some GPNs told Nursing in Practice that , while they broadly welcome the input of ARRS colleagues , they have concerns that the rapid influx of new roles and processes could jeopardise their own role in the longer term .
Marilyn Eveleigh , nurse and chair of Nursing in Practice ’ s advisory panel , believes the scheme could help take general practice ‘ to another level ’.
She says : ‘ Since 1990 , GPNs have successfully expanded their roles in general practice teams , changing the face of primary care . Now ARRS roles have the potential to take services to another level , with timely improved care closer to home and nurses coordinating holistic care .’
She welcomes the scheme ’ s additional nursing roles but suggests it could have involved more nurses from the outset and that new roles will mean changes for nurses .
‘ It was a lost opportunity when the ARRS list did not initially include nurses . Because we have a national