Only 100 extra GPs added to workforce in six months

[Northerner]

Only 100 extra GPs were added to the workforce in the last six months of 2015/16 in England, official figures have revealed, striking a blow to the Government’s aim of adding 5,000 extra GPs by 2020.

The new figures from NHS Digital reveal that the number of GPs excluding registrars, retainers and locums actually went down by eight from 30 September 2015 to 31 March 2016.

The report – which NHS Digital stresses is experimental – also reveals that the number of practices in England had decreased by 61 in those six months, while the proportion of the workforce that is female is increasing, with women now making up 52.1%.

This calls into further doubt the Government’s claim in 2014 that it will increase the numbers of GPs in the workforce by 5,000 by 2020.

http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/your-pr...d-to-workforce-in-six-months/20032884.article

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[grovesy]

No suprise there!

 

[Ljc]

I'm not supprised either.

 

[mikeyB]

The problem with GPs is that they are independent contractors to the NHS, always have been. So adding a GP to a practice means a salaried GP, payed for by the other doctors, or a potential partner, reducing the total share of the pot. That's a factor not often mentioned. It's the money again, a significant disincentive to add doctors to a practice.

It's a bit different up here in the highlands, where large geographic practice areas with a low number of patients means that you can't use the standard payment model, so most are paid direct from the NHS pot.