A recommitment to continuity of care is central to reviving primary care

The UK in 2024: general practices setting up food banks, doctors writing prescriptions for over-the-counter drugs to help patients save money, and staff giving people cash handouts to alleviate poverty (doi:10.1136/bmj.q1339).1 In London, primary care services specialise in providing care for homeless people who invariably present with complex physical and mental health conditions (doi:10.1136/bmj.q778).2 Around the country, demands on primary care continue to outstrip staffing levels. Against the backdrop of a fractured society, patients’ needs aren’t being met (doi:10.1136/bmj.q1152),3 and staff, unable to deliver the care they know they should, are struggling to prop up the health service.Yet funding for primary care has barely moved. A funding increase of 1.9% is below inflation (doi:10.1136/bmj.q1114) and forces general practices to adopt the twisted logic of employing lesser trained staff to replace doctors, to provide suboptimal care when baseline health is suboptimal.4 The number of full time equivalent GPs has fallen over…
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