Family doctor call as patient numbers rise

NHS Digital figures show 158,731 patients were registered at the 21 practices in the NHS South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group area, as of the end of June – meaning each was dealing with an average of 7,559 patients, – slightly from 7,539 in June 2020.

The number of patients in South Tyneside increased by 418 over this time, while the number of practices remained unchanged.

Nationally, 60.8 million patients were registered at 6,571 facilities in June – an average of 9,258 per practice – up 2.4% on a year previously, and the highest figure since comparable quarterly records began in 2015.

The British Medical Association (BMA) say the GP workforce needs to be increased needed.

Richard Vautrey, chairman of the BMA’s GP committee said: “Numbers of GPs are falling while demand rises, leaving us with a severe shortage.

"With a growing and ageing population, only a medical workforce expansion will give us hope that we can offer good quality care to everyone in the future.”

He urged the Government to rapidly grow the medical workforce by at least 31%.

A Department of Health and Social Care said: “We have invested £270m to expand GP capacity, on top of the £1.5bn for extra staff until 2023-24.

“The highest ever number of doctors accepted a place on GP specialty training in 2020 and we are committed to increasing the number of training places available to 4,000 a year."