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The Royal College of GPs is calling on the government to urgently provide more funding for GP practices serving the most deprived populations.
The calls come following new data which reveals that GP practices in less deprived areas tended to have fewer patients per GP than those in more deprived areas.
Indeed, GP practices in the most deprived areas of England had 2,400 patients per fully-qualified doctor, compared with 2,100 patients per fully-qualified doctor in the least deprived areas.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said this is “concerning” considering that patients in more deprived areas are more likely to have “multiple and increasingly complex health needs”.
With this in mind, Professor Hawthorne says more works needs to be done to better recruit and retain staff in under-doctored areas. She also encourages the government to conduct a comprehensive review of retention and recruitment initiatives.
GPs now caring for 120 more patients than in 2019
The ONS data also revealed that in October 2022, the number of patients per doctor (trainee and fully-qualified) at GP practices in England was 1,700.
A record 36.1 million GP appointments were also delivered in October, with almost 40% delivered on the same day booked.
This is despite the number of full-time equivalent GPs falling by 660 since December 2019. A depleting workforce has put added pressure on GPs, with the average FTE GP now caring for 120 more patients than in 2019.
Prof Hawthorne said the figures show that “GPs are working above and beyond to deliver high-quality and complex care to an ever-growing patient population”, but warns that this mounting workload is now “unsustainable”.
More GPs leaving the profession than joining it
She said: “GPs want to be able to consistently give their patients the care they deserve, no matter where they live in the country. But the increased workload expected of GPs and their teams, coupled with the chronic shortage of GPs, is unsustainable.
“Overall, the GP workload has increased by 18% since 2019, and this is having an impact on experienced GPs, who are overstretched, exhausted and burning out. Sadly, this is causing some GPs to evaluate their career in general practice and more GPs are now leaving the profession than are joining it, due to concerns about delivering safe patient care and the impact these intense pressures are having on their own wellbeing.
“Patients and GP teams deserve better general practice. This is why the College is calling on Government to implement a new recruitment and retention strategy that goes beyond the target of 6,000 GPs pledged by the Conservatives in their election manifesto. We also need to see a review and revamp of retention schemes to keep experienced GPs in the workforce, as well as more initiatives to attract GPs and their teams to work in under doctored areas, where our services are often most needed.
“Funding for general practice must also be returned to 11% of the total health spend, and better investment in our IT systems and premises is needed, alongside steps to cut bureaucracy so that we have more time to deliver care to the growing numbers of patients who need it.”