Enough with the analysis and breast-beating, pleads Ben Gowland! As the system finally wakes up to the crisis in General Practice he posits that there is at least one reasonably easy solution which no-one has yet tried.

The Kings Fund have published a new report, entitled ‘Understanding Pressures in General Practice’. The immediate reaction in General Practice I am sure will be a weary shrug. They know what the pressures are. Their frustration lies in the amount of time it has taken the system to recognise it, and a prevailing sense that further analysis of the problem does not seem to lead to help and support that makes coping any easier.

There could be a real benefit to the quantification of the problem. There has been a 15% rise in consultations from 2010/11 to 2014/15, based on analysis of over 30 million contacts. This is driven by an increase in the number of consultations per registered patient per year from 4.29 to 4.91 over the same period. The benefit would be if this led to an increase in the funding per registered patient.

But the money has already been promised, through the General Practice Forward View (my take on that here). This report comes two weeks too late. For GP practices, the time now is not for further analysis of the problem, but for the development of solutions. We already know what money is available and what the policy makers are offering.

Ultimately it is now down to GP practices themselves. The GP Forward View is out, and it is decision time. But, realistically, how can GP practices possibly take a grip of this agenda? How will they find the time? When some GPs respond to surveys putting the need to be able to take a toilet break at the top of their wish-list, it is hard to imagine practices being able to create the necessary capacity.

There is one place that help could come to General Practice from. There is a group of GPs who understand the challenges General Practice faces, who know how the system works, who have relationships with different healthcare organisations across the system. These are the GPs working in CCGs.

These GPs work in CCGs because the CCGs pay them to do it. If they returned to General Practice they would lose both the funding and the protected time to really help. So right now the GPs that general practice needs are crusading the cause of CCGs, tackling the problems of the system. But while they are away, home is burning. At this rate, there may be nothing left to come home to.

The time has come for a really practical step. CCGs need to identify a core group of GPs that they will second back to General Practice, and fund these secondments. The job of these GPs will be to work with local practices to help them navigate a way through the post-GP Forward View landscape, and support the development of a strong local General Practice.

If General Practice really is at the heart of local Sustainability and Transformation Plans, it is a perfectly reasonable step for CCGs to take. If GP leaders in CCGs really want to make a difference, then it is time to focus on General Practice itself. Not from within the confines of the CCG offices, but out, hand in hand, with the practices who need the help.

The pressures in General Practice are now understood and documented. It is time for action. As Benjamin Disraeli said, “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action”.