One in six GP jobs vacant as poll reveals record shortage of family doctors

ONE in six GP positions is unfilled, the highest level ever recorded

Vacancies are running at 15.3 per cent, up from 12.2 per cent last year and 11.7 per cent in 2016, a poll of family doctors shows.

1

And two-thirds of practices questioned had more than one position unfilled.

Doctors’ leaders said the shortage was placing intolerable pressure on general practitioners, already struggling to cope with an ageing population.

Dr Richard Vautrey, chair of the British Medical Association’s GP Committee, said: “We cannot allow a situation where patient safety is being compromised.

“The Government must urgently address this growing crisis which is threatening to undermine the foundation on which the wider NHS is built.”

MOST READ IN HEALTH NEWS

PREGNANCY PREVENTION

Get the lowdown on female sterilisation, from how it works to whether or not it is reversible

WEIGHTY ISSUE

Size 18 mum says she lost SEVEN STONE while she was pregnant by going on a juice diet... but is it healthy?

CHEST WHAT THE DOC ORDERED

Want to boost your body confidence and add sizzle to a soggy love life? Then it's time to bin the bikini top like these celebs

DIET JOKE?

From diet saviour to saboteur... the truth about Diet Coke (and how it could be BAD for your health)

The survey of 660 GPs was by Pulse magazine, which said only 4.2 per cent of positions were vacant in 2012.

Official figures earlier this year showed 1,000 GPs had quit since 2015.

It has left the NHS struggling to meet its target of recruiting 5,000 GPs by 2020.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “Almost every surgery in England is now one GP short.”