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Proportion of female GPs grows two percentage points in just one year

The number of female GPs has increased since last year, growing by two percentage points in just one year, according to official figures.

Data published today from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that in 2015, 54.4% of GPs were female, an increase from 52.4% in 2014. This number excludes locum GPs but includes GP registrars. The number of female GPs has steadily increased since 2005, when the proportion was 42.5%.

If you also exclude registrars and retainers, the proportion of female GPs increased to more than half the workforce for the first time, from 49.9% in 2014 to 51.9% in 2015. This proportion was 40.1% in 2005.

However, if you consider only FTE GPs, women account for just under half of the GPs working in England – in 2015 49.1% of FTE GPs were female.

The figures also show an overwhelmingly female workforce for other staff in general practice – only 4.3% of those working in direct patient care are male and only 5% of administration or non-clinical staff are.

The report also reveals that the overall number of FTE GPs has decreased by 2% since last year.