GP leader questions Cameron’s plans for seven-day surgeries

Nagpaul will say that the government ‘will fail dismally’ in its manifesto pledge for 5,000 new GPs if it continues with weekend opening, because it will ‘lose 10,000 GPs retiring in the same period’. He will remind those present of the proof of GPs retiring earlier and fewer doctors joining the profession. A British Medical Association (BMA) report earlier in the year revealed that one in three GPs intend to retire in the next fire years.

Nagpaul is due to say: “Being a GP has an unsustainable, punishing pace and intensity. The irrefutable fact is that patient demand has absolutely outstripped the capacity of GP services, and we simply don’t have the GPs, appointments, staff or space to meet these escalating demands.”

BMA council chair Mark Porter echoed Nagpaul’s views: “The real question for the government is how it plans to deliver additional care when the NHS is facing a funding gap of £30bn and there is a chronic shortage of GPs and hospital doctors, especially in acute and emergency medicine, where access to 24-hour care is vital.”

Dr Nagpaul will also announce plans around GPs seeking greater support from other professionals.

He will say: "We must work with other health professional such as pharmacists who can support GPs in their daily work. We must equally be creative about new ways of working and using technology to ease pressures. The GPC will be rolling out guidance on such measures in the coming months."

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