Portsmouth GPs deal with an increasing number of patients as medical staff dwindles, research shows

According to the House of Commons Library, there are currently 2,821 patients per GP in Portsmouth. The amount of general practitioners are falling nationally. Between 2016 and 2022, the number of fully qualified GPs working across England fell from 29,320 to 27,372, while the number of registered patients grew from 58,083,265 to 62,225,886. The Liberal Democrats, who commissioned the research, warned of a stark postcode lottery’ across the country, with some areas affected much worse than others.

Staffing shortages have lead to the planned closure of North Harbour Medical Practice in Cosham, which has suffered from long-term recruitment difficulties.

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Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokeswoman Daisy Cooper, said: ‘Communities across the country are seeing ever falling numbers of GPs treating ever growing numbers of patients, in a stark postcode lottery. It is creating a perfect storm that means for many people, it feels almost impossible to see your GP when you need to.’

She added: ‘This ever-worsening GP shortage is having a terrible human cost, as people face delayed or missed diagnoses and A&Es fill up with desperate patients looking for treatment. People are fed up with this Government failing to deliver on the basics as local health services are driven into the ground.’

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said the research ‘shows yet again how GPs and our teams are working above and beyond to deliver care to an ever-growing patient population, with falling numbers of fully qualified, full-time equivalent GPs’.

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‘Patients and GP teams deserve better,’ Prof Hawthorne added. ‘This is why the college is calling on government to implement a new recruitment and retention strategy that goes beyond the target of 6,000 GPs pledged in its election manifesto, including initiatives to attract GPs to work in under doctored areas, where our services are often most needed.’

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘We are working with NHS England and Higher Education England to grow the GP workforce by boosting recruitment, addressing the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encouraging them to return to practice.’ They added there were over 90,000 more GP appointments everyday in 2022 compared to 2021.