Jeremy Hunt accused of ‘astonishing failure’ after GP numbers fall by 1,190
At the RSN seminar discussion in Shrewsbury today the big discussion item in terms of health was the challenge of recruiting rural health care professionals. I understand there is a culture at the moment, as winter draws in, of demanding personal guarantees for performance from senior NHS staff. Who is answerable to for failing to meet this target in this respect??? This story tells us:
The number of GPs in England has fallen sharply in the past year, despite a government pledge to increase the supply of family doctors by 5,000.
The total number of full-time equivalent GPs working in England dropped by 1,193 in the year to September, figures from NHS Digital show.
The numbers have shrunk despite efforts by the NHS, ministers and GP bodies to persuade existing family doctors to stay in post and to encourage medical graduates to make a career in general practice.
The decrease raises doubts over whether Jeremy Hunt’s pledge to increase GPs by 5,000 by 2020, which was first made in 2015, will be delivered. Labour accused the health secretary of “astonishing failure” on a key NHS target.
Krishna Kasaraneni, a family doctor and British Medical Association spokesman on GP issues, said: “It is clear from these figures that the NHS is falling some way short of its pledge to recruit 5,000 GPs by 2020, with in fact these numbers showing that the workforce has shrunk by more than 1,000 in England.”
GP practices often do not have the staff needed to treat the growing demand from patients for appointments, caused by the growing and ageing population.
The chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Helen Stokes-Lampard, said: “GPs across the country will be gravely concerned about these figures. We understand that change takes time, but we desperately need more family doctors and we need them sooner rather than later.”