On Tuesday, the government announced that over 1,000 GP surgeries will benefit from £102 million of capital to fund GP estate improvements enabling over 8 million more appointments this year. The Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund is expected to support better utilisation of the existing primary care estate by creating additional space for GPs to see more patients, boost productivity and improve patient care. CHP has worked in partnership with ICBs to put forward over 80 proposals with the potential to enable over half a million more patient appointments from GP practices accommodated in LIFT buildings.
Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund
The Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund was announced during the 2024 Spending Review and provides new capital funding of £102 million in 2025 to 2026 to support improvements in the primary care estate.
The fund aims to:
- enhance the use of existing infrastructure
- create additional capacity for the GP and practice workforce
- enable additional patient appointments
The primary care utilisation projects proposed across the LIFT estate will deliver on opportunities to reconfigure and repurpose vacant or poorly used space, such as converting administrative space into clinical spaces. In addition, the drive to digitise patient records is also freeing up storage space that can be adapted for clinical service delivery.
It is great to see much needed capital investment for the primary care estate and the additional clinical capacity this will enable. Better use of existing primary care assets, such as the LIFT buildings, is our priority and will enable the government’s mission to shift care into communities, increasing NHS productivity and delivery of patient care. CHP has demonstrated this consistently through our capital delivery programme to date – repurposing and adapting existing good quality space across the LIFT estate to enable more patient appointments, more care closer to home and supporting better patient outcomes. This also provides better value for taxpayer’s money and can be delivered at pace.
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