NHS loses nearly 5,000 GP partners in a decade, official data reveal
The number of GP partners working for the NHS in England has fallen by nearly 5,000 in the past 10 years.
This comes as yesterday's quarterly workforce data from NHS Digital revealed a drop in partner numbers of 308 in the last three months for which data was available.
According to NHS Digital's recent GP trends in the UK report, there were 34,032 GP partners in England in 2007, compared to just 29,272 in 2017, for which the latest full-year data was published.
The latest quarterly figure, collected on a provisional basis for June 2018, showed that there were 22,285 GP partners, but this was down from 22,593 in March this year.
The news comes as the overall GP workforce situation worsened further, with full-time equivalent GP numbers (including all different types of roles) dropping by 523 between March and June this year.
The Government has launched a review to ‘reinvigorate’ the partnership model and introduce ‘attractive features’ of salaried and locum GP roles to partnerships in an effort to entice more GPs into the role.
Commenting on the official data, review lead Dr Nigel Watson pointed out that 'if we carry on in that trajectory then having general practice based on the partnership model is pretty disastrous', 'particularly [as] a lot of the concerns about risk and workload means more sits with fewer people'.
He told Pulse: 'The review is important because it will look at the balance between the risks and rewards, so that it's more rewarding to be a partner and less risky. Because it has come to [a stage where] the risk outweighs the reward.'
He added: ‘If we can make GPs' working day and the workload more doable then I think we can reverse the trend, but if we do nothing then it will certainly get worse.’
BMA GP Committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said the figures 'provide clear evidence as to why the current partnership review is so important'.
He said: 'In recent years as the pressures on practices have grown the risk carried by parters has become unsustainable for many. There is a clear need to tackle these risks, particularly unlimited workload, rising indemnity, premises liabilities, and staffing responsibilities.
'We need to enable partners to have greater flexibility and ability to manage their workload so that we dramatically reduce the risk of burnout. By tackling these and other issues that the partnership review is identifying, more GPs may have confidence to take on a partnership in the future.'
A Department of Health and social care spokesperson said: 'We recognise the huge contribution the GP partnership model has made to the patients over the lifetime of the NHS - and that’s why we have commissioned a review to look at how the partnership model can be reinvigorated.'
GP partners in numbers
Development over the last decade | GP partners | Salaried GPs |
---|---|---|
2007 | 34,032 | 6,598 |
2008 | 34,065 | 7,274 |
2009 | 34,343 | 8,959 |
2010 | 33,750 | 9,015 |
2011 | 33,888 | 9,356 |
2012 | 33,564 | 9,665 |
2013 | 33,271 | 9,982 |
2014 | 32,828 | 10,765 |
2015 | 31,403 | 11,795 |
2016 | 30,401 | 12,143 |
2017 | 29,272 | 12,743 |
*because of a change in data collection in 2010, previous years' figures may not be directly comparable
*dataset excludes registrars, retainers and locums
Development over the last year | GP partners | Salaried GPs | GP registrars | GP retainers | GP locums |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 2017 | 23,192 | 11,129 | 4,907 | 201 | 2,630 |
September 2017 | 22,919 | 11,497 | 5,412 | 218 | 2,631 |
December 2017 | 22,770 | 11,779 | 5,272 | 254 | 2,212 |
March 2018 | 22,593 | 11,979 | 5,222 | 286 | 2,192 |
June 2018 - provisional | 22,285 | 11,974 | 5,110 | 294 | 2,102 |
Sources: NHS Digital GP trends in the UK and quarterly GP workforce data
Readers' comments (13)
David Banner | GP Partner/Principal24 Aug 2018 1:36pm
......tick, tick, tick, tick......BOOM!!!!!!!
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Turn out the lights | GP Partner/Principal24 Aug 2018 1:46pm
So that's where the 5000 came in but Mr @unt read it wrong a bit like getting his wife's nationality wrong.Errr what's happened the last 10 years a financial collapse followed by a weak Tory government who have chosen to strangle the public sector and ignore the societal demographic time bomb in the workforce and citizens.To fix this will cost a lot,doubt it is fixable now as I bet what is happening will gather momentum now.
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AlanAlmond | Locum GP24 Aug 2018 3:36pm
5000 fewer partners , 6000 more salaried GPs
Isn’t that what the figures show?
Lots of salaried GPs work part time - well that’s the workforce problem explained then.
How about doing something to make it possible to actually work full time without ending up as a patient on a psychiatric ward?
Reducing the intensity of the job perhaps so you aren’t expected to do what would once have been the equivalent of 4 days work in a morning clinic?
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ScottishGP | GP Partner/Principal24 Aug 2018 7:21pm
Going ‘portfolio’ so one more FT partner down, there are easier ways to earn a crust.
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Post-truth Practitioner | Locum GP25 Aug 2018 12:30pm
I've left my partnership, too. What a pleasant feeling to focus on clinical work and not worry about CQC or sit through fatuous GP Parliament meetings any longer. Hurrah!
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Harry | GP Partner/Principal25 Aug 2018 3:32pm
Lol
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Northwestdoc | Locum GP25 Aug 2018 4:19pm
Maybe everyone could go locum, and we could charge the NHS free market rates for defined amounts of work. After years the government would realise it would be better if we actually held lists of patients we provided lifetime care for and would pay us well to form partnerships offering just that type of care, with excellent results. Then they would start cutting back and zzzzzzzzz
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Hogwash | Locum GP26 Aug 2018 11:36am
Fantastic news! Phoenix, ashes etc
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ScottishGP | GP Partner/Principal27 Aug 2018 1:15pm
And over a period of unprecedented population growth
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policenthieves | GP27 Aug 2018 5:27pm
Not news
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