SOMERSET had more GPs working in the county this year – but the Government still failed to meet its recruitment target, new figures show.
The Royal College of GPs warned that the country is “losing GPs faster than we are training new ones” and called on political parties to make further efforts to increase and retain the GP workforce.
As of April, 386 full-time-equivalent GPs were practising in the former NHS Somerset CCG area. Of them, 282 were fully qualified, while the rest were training, according to NHS Digital data in the House of Commons Library.
That’s an increase of twenty GPs compared to the same period in 2023 - when 366 GPs were working in the county. In March 2019 the area had 371 GPs.
GPs in Somerset are responsible for 1,570 patients each, as of April 2024 figures. That’s down 73 from the previous year. That’s also lower than the national average of 1,729 patients per GP.
Across England the number of GPs saw an increase of 2.4% since April 2023, with 37,237 as per the latest figures. This was 2,711 more than in March five years ago, but came short of the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto pledge to recruit 6,000 more GPs by 2025.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said GPs delivered 25% more appointments last month than in April 2019, but “we can’t keep doing more with less”.
“Patients are bearing the brunt of years of failures in funding and workforce planning,” she said.
Prof Hawthorne added: “Now that the General Election is just a few weeks away, we’re hearing promises from political parties about improving access to general practice services – but this can only be done with investment to boost and protect the GP workforce.
“Right now, we simply don’t have enough GPs - we are losing GPs faster than we are training new ones.
“We need all the major political parties to commit to significant investment and further efforts to increase and retain the GP workforce, to ensure general practice is fit for the future. If general practice fails, the NHS fails.”
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