Fewer GPs in England but demand is on the rise
New analysis shows four out of five areas in England have fewer GPs than four years ago.
Last updated 14th Oct 2021
There's a warning a decline in the number of GPs could leave primary care in England at breaking point.
An investigation by Sky News has found there's almost a third fewer doctors in some areas of the country than there were five years ago.
That's despite an increase in demand.
Dominic Harrison is the Director of Public Health for Blackburn and Darwen Council, where there are only 45 GPs per 100-thousand patients. he sadi:
"We lost the a years male life expectancy during the covid pandemic. We're never going to recover equal life chances for our children if we don't make sure that everyone has equal and fair access to GPs.
Dr Murthy Motupalli has been a GP in the borough for thirty years:
"At the moment I'm working almost 10 hours a day and I'm also working at the weekends just to catch up with some urgent work, not the routine work. That is the reality of it.
"We're seeing 40-50 patients either by telephone or face-to-face and that's per day."
Well this comes as GP league tabled are set to be introduced as patients will be given a new right to demand face-to-face appointments.
Practices which fail to provide an "appropriate" level of face-to-face appointments won't be eligible for the new funding.
Patients will also be able to rate their GP practice's performance over text message.
It's all part of a new multi-million pound package of measrues from the NHS aimed at improving access to GPs.