GP crisis deepens

New evidence has emerged showing the drastic shortage of family doctors in London.

The problem is so severe that last year more than 46,000 residents in the London area alone had to appeal to health bosses to force doctors to take them on.

The Evening Standard surveyed the Primary Care Trusts to find vacancy rates, the average number of patients per GP, and the number of people who asked the PCT to allocate them to a doctor.

The key findings were:

have been made and this is now down to one a day.

Dr John Chisholm, chairman of the BMA's GPs committee, said: "The figures paint a picture of an overworked, under-strength GP workforce. In very many London boroughs the family doctors each have more than the national average number of 1,800 patients to care for.

"GP vacancy numbers across the capital mean that over half a million Londoners are effectively without a GP, leaving the doctors in post to try to meet their needs as best they can.

"The figures make a clear case for having more general practitioners in London. Since 1 April, when the new national GP contract came into force fully, a different system of dealing with patient allocations is in place - when a practice's patient list is formally closed, the practice cannot be made to accept any more patients until they are able to do so."

Health minister John Hutton said: "Ninety-eight per cent of people seeking a consultation in London are able to access a GP within 48 hours, whether that be through a GP practice or NHS walk-In centre.

"We are committed to increasing the number of GPs in London, helping to ease the pressure on practices. Last year an extra 204 GPs were recruited in London, over and above those who left the NHS."

Dr Kambiz Boomla, chairman of the Tower Hamlets Local Medical Committee, said the population was growing faster than the number of doctors. In his area changes have been made to the way patients are allocated a GP and the number of doctors being forced to take patients was dropping.

Dr Boomla said: "GPs are being more co-operative about taking patients now but that doesn't reflect practices having to work beyond their capacity." He said government targets of patients being able to see their GP within 48 hours are not reflecting the true situation.

"The figures are being fiddled because under government guidelines if the patient is redirected to another service, such as a walk-in centre, that still counts towards the target."

Tory health shadow Tim Yeo said: "By spinning GP numbers and boasting about the amounts spent on the NHS, Labour has raised everyone's expectations.

"When faced with the reality of GP shortages and closed lists, both doctors and patients feel let down."