RCGP responds to latest GP workload and workforce figures

Commenting on the latest GP workload and workforce figures from NHS England, Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs said: “Nearly 33m appointments were delivered in November, 14% more than November 2019, and with over 41% delivered on the same day they were booked. These figures show just how hard GPs and our teams are continuing to work to deliver timely and appropriate patient care during an exceptionally busy winter - and it’s only just begun.

“Yet, despite GPs and our teams working ever harder, today’s workforce figures show that fully qualified, full-time equivalent GP numbers continue to fall – by 737 since 2019. With more GPs leaving the profession than joining, we simply don’t have a large enough workforce to deliver care to our growing population with increasingly complex healthcare needs.

“General practice is the cornerstone of the health service but it is struggling. The Government must act to turn the tide on decades of underinvestment and poor workforce planning by devising and implementing a recruitment and retention strategy that goes beyond its manifesto pledge of 6,000 more GPs. We also need to make GP workload more manageable by cutting unnecessary red tape to allow GPs to spend more time with their patients.”

Further information

Actual appointment figures have been replaced by estimated figures to provide a more accurate representation of workload data.

RCGP Press office – 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editor

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research, and clinical standards.