The government MUST step up to tackle North East GP crisis
Our region has the highest number of GPs in the country who're considering retirement.
The BMA have warned that the government must take urgent action if they want to prevent the country's GP crisis worsening.
New figures show the North East has the highest levels of practices reporting GPs considering retirement.
42% of practices in our region say their GPs are considering leaving the profession.
Over 300 practices say they're now facing closure due to 'weak financial positions.'
The BMA say almost half of all practices say their doctors are choosing to leave the NHS entirely.
Dr George Rae, chairman of the North East BMA, said: "Patients deserve the best service we can give.
"Professionally we want to give the best service that we can give.
"But we must have the manpower, we must have the resources, we must have the staff to support us.
We've got to highlight the problem.
"We want to create a situation where younger doctors think 'I'm enthused'.
"Yes it's bad at the present time, but we can get solutions.
"The part the government has to play is to properly finance general practice and doctors within the community."
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA GP committee chair, said:
"This survey provides further evidence of the state of emergency facing general practice.
"Almost half of GP practices are looking at the loss of part of their workforce at a time when there is a shortfall in new doctors entering general practice.
"As GP services struggle to replace existing staff who leave, it will inevitably make it more difficult to maintain current services to patients and particularly to offer enough appointments for them.
"GP practices are facing this dire situation because they are being overwhelmed by rising patient demand, cuts to funding, staff shortages and more unfunded work being moved from hospitals into the community."