Primary care networks (PCNs) will be able to recruit GPs under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) for 2024-25, the government has announced.

It is hoped the move will enable the recruitment of more than 1,000 GPs.

And it will be paid for by £82m 'from the existing department budget', the government said in a statement today.

The move has been campaigned for by the British Medical Association (BMA), Royal College of General Practitioners, and other groups, with a petition for the issue receiving over 11,000 signatures before it was closed early due to the election.

The original petition also called for practice nurses to be added to the scheme.

The government said that adding GPs to the ARRS - which can be used by PCNs to claim salary reimbursements for specific roles, including pharmacists - was 'an emergency measure' for 2024-25 in a bid to address recruitment concerns.

And it will continue working with the profession 'to identify longer term solutions to GP unemployment and general practice sustainability as part of the next fiscal event'.

Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting described the 'immediate action' as 'a first step, as we begin the long-term work of shifting the focus of healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to fix the front door to the NHS'.

The announcement comes as industrial action proposed by the BMA was set to begin today (1 August).

And Dr Amanda Doyle, NHS England director for primary care and community services, said in today's statement that her team would 'continue to work with GPs, the BMA and the government to avert any potential action, but in the meantime the NHS has a duty to plan for any possible disruption to ensure services continue to be provided for patients – so the public should continue to come forward for care in the normal way if collective action does go ahead'.

Community pharmacists have also proposed a second day of action in September, while a cross-sector petition to 'save' the sector has over 160,000 signatures, according to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).

And pharmacy contractors have said that delays to the sector's contract with the government, which has still not been agreed for the financial year 2024/25, are causing 'stress, uncertainty and closures'.