Future opportunities for delivering primary care education–the political drivers of change

Abstract

Growing patient demand, changing patient need, technological advancements and workforce challenges have resulted in a complex healthcare system in the United Kingdom (UK) that is unable to meet the needs of its populations. Consequently, reform is needed to ‘fix the broken National Health Service (NHS)’. In response, the UK government published its 10-year Health Plan, identifying strategic shifts to overcome the challenges, including from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention, and from analogue to digital. These changes in priorities for the NHS now provide an opportunity to reimagine the way in which not just general practice (GP) but education in primary care is both structured and delivered to undergraduate medical students. This article explores ideas for designing ‘fit for the future’ primary care education against this political backdrop. In doing so, the opportunities are discussed for training provided by the broader non-GP healthcare professional team, collaboration and co-creation of curricula with community partners or third-party healthcare organisations, and the role of heath informatics and technology enhanced learning for workforce development. Furthermore, the importance of consolidating and rationalising education curricula in parallel to growth and innovation is highlighted, to ensure they remain at the forefront of primary care whilst continuing to provide meaningful learning experiences.