The latest GP workforce figures for England show the number of patients per practice is rising. GPs are now responsible for about 18% more patients than in 2015, demonstrating ever-increasing workload pressures.
The NHS in England has lost the equivalent of 1,790 full-time fully qualified GPs since 2015. There are also fewer GP practices, with a decrease by 106 over the past year. This fall in both staff numbers and GP practice coincides with a rise in patients: as of March 2024, there was another record-high of 63.27 million patients registered with practices in England – a full time equivalent GP is now responsible for an average of 2,295 patients.
The latest appointment data shows that that around 29.9 million standard appointments were booked in March 2024, and over the past year, approximately 353.3 million standard (non-Covid-19 vaccination) appointments were booked. When comparing to pre-pandemic levels, this is 43.1 million more appointments than between April 2019 to March 2020.
