Average GP on three-day week after ‘worrying’ drop in hours

THE average GP is now working a three-day week, following a “significant” drop in hours, government research shows.

The latest study, commissioned by the Department of Health, is from before the pandemic, but concerns have grown since that it is getting even harder to see a GP.

There are particular tensions over access to face-to-face appointments, with the Prime Minister intervening last month to say every patient has the right to see a GP in person.

GPS carried out 6.6 half-day sessions a week in 2019, the equivalent of just over three days, the lowest on record. In 2010, it was 7.5 sessions.

The data also show a fall in the proportion of time being spent on “direct patient care”. Just 59 per cent of GPS’ time was spent this way in 2019, down from 63.1 per cent in 2010.

The National GP Worklife Survey of 1,332 GPS, carried out by the University of Manchester, shows the average number of weekly hours “decreased significantly” between 2017 and 2019.

The figure of 40 hours a week compares with almost 42 hours in 2017, in the first drop seen since 2010.

Rising earnings saw average GP pay top £100,000 before tax and expenses in 2019-20, NHS statistics show.

It comes amid growing concern about difficulties accessing face-to-face appointments with a GP.

Before the pandemic, about 80 per cent of consultations took place in a doctor’s surgery, but in August the figure was just 57.7 per cent.

Patients’ groups and campaigners have said many vulnerable people have been unable to access care, with coroners linking a string of deaths to remote appointments.

Dennis Reed, the director of Silver Voices, a campaign group for the over60s, said: “The situation is really worrying. It’s hardly surprising that we are facing a national crisis in terms of faceto-face access to GPS when the average doctor is only working a three-day week.

“It worries me that when we spend all this money and time training doctors they are able to work part-time, and for many of them that means using that time to work in private practice, or doing locum work.”

Last month the head of Britain’s family doctors said that he did not expect a

‘It worries me that when we spend all this money and time training doctors they are able to work part-time’

return to the previous levels of face-toface appointments, describing the current split as “about right”.

Prof Martin Marshall said it was not his job to ask fellow medics to work more sessions, saying the model of a full-time GP was “probably something we won’t see again”.

Surveys of trainee GPS found that just one in 20 intends to work full time.

Last night Prof Marshall said: “GPS and our teams are working under tremendous pressure – and yet GP numbers fell by 4.5 per cent between Sep- tember 2015 and March 2021, meaning that the ratio of patients to GPS has increased by almost 10 per cent.

“GPS are burning out and we are seeing high numbers of doctors working less than full time, or being forced to leave the profession, as a result.

“Working ‘part time’ in general practice often means working what would normally be considered full-time, or longer, and will likely include many hours of paperwork.”

Separate figures show the number of people per GP now stood at 2,038 – a rise of 5 per cent over the past six years.

Data from an analysis by House of Commons Library for the Liberal Democrats revealed the figure was nearly 3,000 in some areas, while other districts have closer to 1,600 patients per GP.

In May, health officials promised to scrap a system of “total triage” introduced during the pandemic, and enable patients see a doctor in person.

Prof Marshall last month told MPS there was no point making such promises when GPS did not have the capacity.

But the Prime Minister insisted patients are entitled to be able to see a doctor who could give “proper handson understanding” of their problems.

Boris Johnson said: “I am certain that unless we can deliver that there will be people whose symptoms are not picked up and who will suffer as a result.”

The National GP Worklife Survey has tracked workload and job satisfaction since 1999, showing their hours peaked in 2001, when GPS were working almost 48 hours a week on average.

But they dropped sharply in 2005, following the introduction of a GP contract.

Last month the Health Secretary held talks with the British Medical Association and Royal College of GPS about how to improve access to GPS.

An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS is committed to making primary care as accessible to patients as possible.”