Satisfaction rates with GP services have plummeted to their lowest level on record and latest figures show one in six patients waiting more than two weeks for an appointment.
Less than 10% of the NHS budget is spent on GP services and British Medical Association members launched a “work-to-rule”, including capping patient appointments, in the summer, over what the union says is a lack of funding.
BMA GP leader Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer said: “These stats demonstrate how GP practices have been expected to keep doing more for less. General practice is collapsing.”
NHS England said: “We recognise that too many people struggle to get an appointment as quickly as they would like, and in some parts of the country surgeries are struggling to recruit the staff they need.”
Overall, the numbers of patients per GP have fallen slightly compared with last year, after an uptick in recruitment.
But despite a growing and ageing population, the number of permanent GPs, excluding locums and trainees, is just over 1,000 lower now, at 27,193 full-time equivalents, than in 2015.
The numbers in training, though, have increased and Labour has promised to boost that further, while getting pharmacists to do more to treat minor health problems, to ease some of the pressure on GPs – they are already taking on responsibility for ailments such as sore throats, shingles and some urinary tract infections.
GPs have also been given money to take on extra staff, including nurses and physiotherapists.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said the new government had also cut red tape to make it easier to recruit doctors.
“This government is determined to work with the NHS to fix the front door of our health service and ensure everyone can access GP services,” she added.
