05.05.15
It could take up to 31 years for parties to fulfil GP promise
GP leaders have warned it will take between 20 and 31 years to achieve the number of additional GPs pledged by the Conservatives and Labour unless an emergency package of measures is introduced by whoever wins the general election.
Analysis published by the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) shows that if current trends continue, patients will have to wait until 2045 for the 8,000 extra GPs promised by Labour and until 2034 to realise the 5,000 more family doctors proposed at the Conservative Party conference.
The College says that whoever forms the next government needs to introduce an urgent package of measures to recruit new GPs, retain existing family doctors and encourage those who have taken a career break to return to the profession and frontline patient care.
There are currently 35,819 family doctors (excluding trainees and returners) in England but between 2013 and 2014, the number of GPs increased by only 258.
The RCGP estimates that 8,000 more GPs will be needed in England by 2020 to keep pace with patient demand.
Professor Nigel Mathers, RCGP honorary secretary, said: “Whoever is in power, ministers will urgently need to rebalance the number of training places towards general practice by reducing the historic excess of training posts available in some hospital-based specialties; provide financial and other incentives – such as grants that can be used to pay off student loans – to newly qualified GPs if they agree to train and practise in under-doctored or deprived areas; and encouraging existing family doctors to stay in practice, by cutting the red tape in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) and reviewing the bureaucracy of the CQC inspection regime.”
He added: “If the new government – of whichever colour – misses its GP workforce target, then millions of patients will continue to have to wait more than a week to see their GP every year, and increasing numbers of family doctors will feel it is more and more difficult to deliver excellent patient care.”
NHE previously reported that a BMA survey has indicated a third of GPs are considering retirement in the next five years because of their excessive workloads, un-resourced work and not being able to spend enough time with patients.
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