Decrease noted in number of GPs per patient

New workforce figures have revealed that the ratio of full-time equivalent GPs per 10,000 population is the lowest it has been since 2004, despite increasing demand for general practice services.

The data, which compared Office for National Statistics official population data with GP workforce numbers from NHS Digital, shows that the ratio has fallen from 6.56 full-time equivalent GPs per 10,000 population in 2007 to 6.19 GPs per 10,000 population in 2017.

With research showing that workload is increasing both in volume and complexity, the latest workforce data highlights that there are fewer full-time equivalent family doctors in the workforce than there were two years ago – and the latest data published shows that three million patients waited more than three weeks for an appointment in December last year.

Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: "Unfortunately, as this data shows, the GP workforce is not rising with demand - indeed, we have fewer full-time equivalent GPs delivering patient care than we had two years ago. As a result, each GP is responsible for more patients – and more elderly patients, who typically have greater and more complex health needs – every year.

"This increasing pressure without the sufficient resources or an increased workforce of fully-qualified GPs to cope with it is untenable. The fact that GP workload is escalating and set to continue to do so - particularly with the drive to deliver more care out of hospitals stated clearly in the NHS Long Term Plan - whilst the GP workforce is still falling runs the risk of a perfect storm.

"The forthcoming workforce strategy must explore all possible options to both recruit more GPs to the profession – and there is some excellent work ongoing in this respect - but also to retain our existing, hard-working and experienced workforce, as well as looking to use the skills of other healthcare professionals to best support the delivery of general practice. Key to this will be looking at how to reduce escalating workload – particularly the bureaucracy and red tape that diverts GPs from patient care - to make working in general practice more sustainable and removing incentives to retire early for GPs who might not necessarily want to.

"Ultimately, we need to see NHS England's GP Forward View, which promised an extra £2.5 billion a year for general practice, delivered, in full, as soon as possible, along with guarantees that general practice will receive a significant share of the additional funding earmarked for primary and community care outlined in the NHS Long-Term Plan."