Some places have over 3,000 patients for every GP (Image: Getty)
New analysis has shown which areas of the UK suffer the most severe shortages of doctors as the British health system continues to struggle.
Research carried out by the has found that the average GP has to care for 17 percent more patients than they did nine years ago. As a result, there are 2,300 patients for every permanent GP, up by almost 350 since 2015.
The parts of the UK where the problem is especially bad have more than 3,000 patients for every GP.
The Government has announced plans to
Thurrock in Essex has the worst GP-to-patient ratio with 3,431 patients for every GP.
Patient satisfaction has worsened as the healthcare system becomes stretched (Image: Getty)
The areas in the UK where GPs are most stretched
Thurrock – 3,431 patients for every GP
Leicester – 3,262 patients for every GP
Blackburn with Darwen – 3,218 patients for every GP
Luton and Milton Keynes – 3,033 patients for every GP
Portsmouth – 3,010 patients for every GP
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Meanwhile, Wirral and Stockport have fewer than 1,850 patients per GP.
Prof Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, has warned that the GPs shortages are “devastating” for healthcare outcomes.
Dr Becks Fisher, of the Nuffield Trust think tank, says the huge gap between some areas is evidence of huge inequality in the UK.
She said: “Although many people are struggling to get appointments, those struggles aren’t felt equally.”
Chief executive of patient watchdog Healthwatch England Louise Ansari added: “Difficulty accessing GP appointments is the number-one issue people share with us. And it’s often unpaid carers, disabled people, people on lower incomes and those whose first language isn’t English that face the biggest challenges.”
The increased demand for GPs in the UK means that patient satisfaction has taken a big hit. In fact, figures show one in six patients are now waiting more than two weeks to be seen.
BMA GP leader Dr Katie Bramall-Staine has lamented the fact that less than 10 percent of budget is spent on GP services.
She added: “These stats demonstrate how GP practices have been expected to keep doing more for less. General practice is collapsing.”
NHS England said: “We recognise that too many people struggle to get an appointment as quickly as they would like, and in some parts of the country surgeries are struggling to recruit the staff they need.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “This government is determined to work with the NHS to fix the front door of our health service and ensure everyone can access GP services.”