Thursday 30 June 2022 05:48 PM England's GP crisis laid bare: A SIXTH of posts are vacant trends now
One in six full-time GP roles in the UK are unfilled amid a recruitment 'nightmare', a survey suggests.
Doctors have warned the staffing crisis means patients are be getting the care they need and burnt out GPs are having to 'pick up the burden'.
A snapshot poll found 405 of 2,361 GP roles in Britain were vacant (17 per cent) — the highest level in at least four years.
Of surgeries with vacancies, 16 per cent had at least two unfilled posts.
Doctors said salaried GPs are leaving the profession or cutting back the number of sessions due to high workloads, and practices are struggling to hire.
Last night a report by the Health Foundation think-tank warned more than a quarter of doctor and nurse posts in GP practices could be vacant within ten years.
The staffing crisis comes after the Government admitted it will likely fail on its manifesto promise of hiring 6,000 more family doctors by 2024.
One in six full-time GP roles in the UK are unfilled, a survey suggests (stock image)
Some 442 GPs responded to the survey, by GP magazine Pulse, which ran from February 25 to March 3.
Three in 10 practices which responded had one vacancy, while 16 per cent had two and 44 per cent had none.
The 17 per cent overall vacancy rate was higher than the last two times Pulse carried out the survey – 14 per cent in May 2021 and 15 per cent in July 2018.
One GP, who reported their practice had at least two vacancies, said that salaried GPs are 'leaving or cutting down on sessions'.
