800 More GP vacancies this year: Crisis heading towards meltdown

6.15.15pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 16th Oct 2003

With official figures today showing that GP vacancies are up by 800 this year, Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, attacked the Government saying that "the crisis is heading towards meltdown." A survey by the Department of Health shows there were 3,435 GP vacancies between April 2002 and March 2003 - up almost a third on the previous year.

Paul Burstow MP said:

"The local GP is the cornerstone of the health service. Patients are facing enormous difficulties finding a GP; waiting longer and finding it harder to get care out of hours.

"The huge rise in vacancies casts in sharp relief the complacency of Government Ministers. Quite simply, the crisis is heading towards meltdown.

"We need better use of nurses and pharmacists to provide the best and most appropriate care for patients. GPs must be freed from the tidal wave of red tape and tick-box targets which is currently causing a crisis in morale and doing nothing to improve patient care."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. There are over 800 more GP vacancies according to the latest survey compared to the year before. There were 3435 GP vacancies last year (April 2002/March 2003) - a 31% increase since last year. 2. The average number of applicants per vacancy filled dropped to 3.3 this year (compared to 4.4 in 2002, 6.9 in 2001) 3. Practices defining themselves as Urban Deprived continuing to attract the fewest applicants for their posts.

4.16% of vacancies filled during the survey period took over 6 months to fill

5.58% of respondents who expressed an opinion perceived the recruitment process to be more difficult than in the past 5 years, whilst 9% perceived it to be easier 6. A survey by Paul Burstow MP, also revealed that of 100 NHS GPs surgeries across London who were surveyed, 53% were either presently closed to new patients or had been in the last 12 months. The survey is available upon request.

ENDS