The NHS in England is heading towards a ‘tipping point’ as the number of GP practices is rapidly decreasing.
A study by researchers from University College London (UCL) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) found that the number of GP practices has dropped by a fifth over the last decade at the same time as more patients join surgery lists.
The team, led by Dr Luisa Pettigrew, GP and research fellow at LSHTM said: ‘Falling GP numbers delivering the same number of appointments per 1,000 patients seems unsustainable. Therefore, there is likely to be a tipping point in the near future where the majority of appointments in English general practice are no longer delivered by GPs.’
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The study found that 1,625 GP surgeries closed between 2013 and 2023 – a fall of 20% or 178 a year, while in the same period, the average number of patients on each surgery’s books rose by 40% or by 291 a year.
The researchers warned that increasing workloads on GPs and the inability to attend to all patients would ‘damage the quality and continuity of care’ people receive.
Responding to the study, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: ‘The NHS is broken, and these findings show how much general practice has been neglected, but this government will fix it by shifting the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community.’
Labour has promised to offer patients the highest quality of care by hiring an extra 1000 GPs in the NHS by end of next year, ensuring pay rises for GPs and practice staff and better resources and technology to equip surgeries to meet the increased demand.