TY - JOUR T1 - GP recruitment crisis: the importance of widening participation JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 519 LP - 520 DO - 10.3399/bjgp19X705953 VL - 69 IS - 687 AU - Christopher Lowe Y1 - 2019/10/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/69/687/519.abstract N2 - General practice is one of a number of specialties facing a workforce crisis.1 Pressures of ever increasing workload are forcing a growing number of GPs to opt for part-time positions, resulting in a reduction in the full-time equivalent (FTE) workforce, as well as having a knock-on impact on recruitment.2 Indeed, a recent think tank report identified that GP recruitment figures are actually moving further away from the governmental target for a net growth of 5000 additional FTE GPs by 2020,1 as outlined in the 2016 General Practice Forward View.,3 Unfortunately, in the current climate, this is a trend that shows no sign of slowing. This notion is reinforced by an equally poor response to the international recruitment programme, which to date has recruited just 58 GPs over a 2-year period from an intended 2000.4In acknowledgement of this issue, in 2016 the government announced an additional 1500 medical school places commencing from 2018 in an attempt to increase recruitment into a number of overstretched specialties, including general practice. The crucial difference however is that the emphasis for these additional places is on recruitment of students from currently under-represented groups in medicine with the overall aim of widening participation.5 Although critics suggest that widening participation is synonymous with ‘dumbing down standards’6 it is argued here that the opposite is true and that widening participation will ultimately be extremely beneficial for both GP … ER -