The GP workforce in Hull and its surrounding region is facing a crisis, with an increasing number of newly appointed GPs their roles. In response to this urgent issue, the Academy of Primary Care at Hull York Medical School, in collaboration with NHS England, has developed a ground-breaking professional development programme for GPs, called CATALYST.
This innovative two-year programme aims to transform the career development of new GPs, equipping them with advanced generalist skills and empowering them to thrive in the challenging primary care environment. CATALYST is now making a significant difference and revolutionising general practice training.
Dr Myriam Dell’Olio and Professor Joanne Reeve, who are leading change in GP practice through the CATALYST programme
Dr Myriam Dell’Olio and Professor Joanne Reeve, who are leading change in GP practice through the CATALYST programme
The GP workforce in Hull and its surrounding region has become a major concern for healthcare commissioners and researchers. Nationally, there was specific growing worry about the increasing number of newly appointed General Practitioners leaving their roles. NHS England therefore identified Humber as one of two pilot sites to develop new ways of supporting new GPs.
This prompted Professor Joanne Reeve, the Director of the Academy of Primary Care at Hull York Medical School and a GP herself, along with Dr Dan Roper, the then-Chair of the NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group, to discuss potential solutions to this crisis in primary care.
Professor Joanne Reeve explained, “Right from the start, Dr Roper and I recognised this would only work through a partnership – bringing together the different expertise across our region to create new solutions. We decided we needed a ‘living lab’ – a space where we could critically and creatively work together to find, try out, and learn from new ways of working.”
The future of general practice
GPs are under enormous pressure and the workforce is in crisis. It’s widely recognised that general practice is overstretched and chronically underfunded. But also, that the job is changing and the support for those new roles – especially the advanced generalist practice needed hasn’t kept up.
Patients in general practice are increasingly living with long term health problems, often complex. Clinicians, including GPs, are needing to adapt how they work/practice to address these changing needs. The service is under resourced but needing to rapidly adapt, resulting in GPs experiencing significant workload and burnout.
The future of GP retention is at stake: and one in five GPs under 30 quit in 2022 (1) and 19,000 further GPs could quit the profession over the next 5 years.(2)
There are many factors behind this worrying trend. But Professor Reeve’s research highlights that some relate to professional/clinical practice – specifically gaps in practising GPs understanding skills and confidence in the practice of advanced generalist medicine.
Key national policy documents have called for a culture shift in healthcare towards greater delivery of whole person, generalist care. So together, Dr Roper and Professor Reeve queried, could we develop an advanced professional development resource that would enhance advanced generalist skills, and so potentially address some of the workforce crisis issues.
In response to this, academics, GPs and GP Fellows in the Academy of Primary Care at Hull York Medical School designed and delivered CATALYST – a two-year, theory informed professional development programme for new to practice GPs that supports GPs to develop skills in addressing everyday primary care challenges, through upskilling them in the knowledge work of advanced generalist practice.
“CATALYST is a novel professional development programme to advance understanding and skills in the knowledge work of advanced clinical practice for primary care"
Knowledge work is about complex problem solving and crucially it means a person who not only knows things about their field of expertise but is also able to apply them in a social, organisational and relational context.
The knowledge needed for this work cannot be defined as simply facts but encompasses what some have called the ‘tacit dimension’ – that is traditions, learned values and judgements, knowledge that we don’t always know we know.(3) But all too often this knowledge work also remains ‘tacit’ or hidden. Making visible the advanced knowledge work of everyday practice is the core goal of the CATALYST programme.
Professor Reeve explained, "CATALYST enables professionals to confidently and appropriately create, use and critique knowledge in context.
"This will help them to work confidently, safely and effectively beyond guidelines and single diseases to deliver whole-person care; enabling and sustaining lifelong professional practice.”