Action needed to tackle loss of GP surgeries
MILLIONS OF people will have to find a new GP practice unless the Government provides urgent investment to halt surgery closures, leading doctors have warned.
The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents family doctors, said more than 600 GP practices in England will be lost by 2022 if funding is not increased.
The BMA said it analysed official figures which showed that due to closure and mergers, the total number of practices had fallen by 963 since 2010.
If the trend continues, England is set to lose between 618 and 777 practices between now and 2022, according to the analysis.
The BMA has appealed directly to Prime Minister Theresa May to address “historic underfunding” of general practice as a longterm funding plan for the NHS is drawn up.
Leeds-based Dr Richard Vautrey, the BMA’s GP Committee chairman, said: “We have seen the devastating effect of practice closures over the last few years, with more than a million patients displaced since 2013, and now this analysis paints an even bleaker picture for the future.
“Patients already face unacceptably long waits for appointments, and without urgent Government action and significantly more investment this will only get worse as millions more are left without a practice and struggling to find a new one.”
The BMA has also raised fears of GPs choosing to leave the profession due to rising workloads and stress levels.
Dr Vautrey said: “As GPs face the mounting pressures of increased demand, unmanageable workloads and lack of resources, more and more are leaving the profession or handing back their contracts.
“At the same time, too many medical school graduates are seeing the situation unfold in general practice and understandably choosing other specialities.”
The BMA’s figures come from its newly released analysis of NHS England’s GP Forward View, which was published two years ago.
The Government has pledged to invest an extra £2.4bn a year into general practice by 2021 and recruit an additional 5,000 doctors.