1.3million forced to find new GP
MORE than 1.3million patients have been forced to find a new GP in the past five years after their surgeries shut down, an investigation has found.
At least 445 practices across Britain have closed or merged since 2013 and almost 460,000 patients were affected in the past year alone.
Over the past five years, the closures have included 23 practices in Scotland, affecting more than 45,000 patients.
But the pace of closures is accelerating across the UK. In 2013, only 18 practices shut or merged. By 2017 this had risen to 130, a seven-fold increase.
The crisis is being fuelled by a shortage of GPs as well as a lack of investment in surgeries, which makes them difficult to run.
Growing numbers of family doctors are retiring in their 50s, partly to avoid hefty taxes on their pensions when their value exceeds £1million.
But they are not being replaced by younger trainees despite vigorous recruitment drives and financial incentives.
Some understaffed surgeries are tempting doctors with salaries of up to £130,000 a year, plus bonuses, to take up vacant posts.
The closures are distressing for patients, particularly the elderly, who may have been with the same practice for most of their lives.
They are forced to travel to a new surgery miles away and negotiate infrequent bus services.
Some areas have experienced a
domino effect whereby GPs in the remaining surgeries quit as a result of the increased workload, forcing that surgery to close as well.
Health boards can also take over the running of a surgery if the practice cannot recruit enough partners, and run the services using locums or salaried GPs.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairman of the royal College of GPs, warned of a ‘serious failure of the system’.
She said: ‘A GP practice closing can have serious ramifications for the patient population it served, neighbouring surgeries, and the health and wellbeing of the GPs involved.’
The figures were obtained by Pulse magazine through Freedom of Information requests to local health trusts in england, as well as health boards in Scotland, Wales and northern Ireland.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘By the end of this parliament, we will invest an additional £500million per year in primary care – £250million of which will be in direct support of general practice.
‘While there are many reasons why services might change as population needs evolve – including practices joining to improve care – patients will always be able to see a GP. Their safety will always be the highest priority.’