According to recent NHS figures, GPs in England are carrying out more appointments than before the pandemic despite the continued workforce shortages.
GPs are struggling to cope with as many as 90 appointments and consultations a day, which is more than three times the recommended safety limit.
The British Medical Association (BMA) guideline is for GPs to have no more than 25 contacts per day.
According to the latest figures, this guideline is being breached almost daily which is a safety concern for patients.
The latest NHS figures show there were an estimated 29.2m appointments in general practice in England in September 2022, compared with an estimated 26.4m in September 2019. The 2.8m increase in appointments evidences the increased demand for GPs and the significant pressures they face.
The Conservative party has previously pledged it would deliver more than 6,000 GPs but upon review, there are concerns they will not be able to honour this pledge despite a significant increase in trainee GPs.
From September 2019 to September 2022, the number of full-time equivalent, fully qualified GPs in England fell from 28,182 to 27,556.
Comment
As we have continued to see in recent years, catching up with Covid backlogs and the increasing demand, whilst resources to be able to do so decrease means the pressures are enormous.
Clearly, patient safety is the main concern, but the increased pressure on GPs creates a dilemma of whether to prioritise providing safe care or focusing on the high patient demand.
The call for prioritising safe patient care would result in further delayed GP waiting times for non-urgent patients.
The prioritisation of the high patient demand will increase the likelihood of unsafe patient care and repeat visits.
It is important these two factors are balanced but as the pressure continues to grow on GPs, it is clearly becoming too difficult to balance.
The trend of decreasing full-time GPs is an important factor for the Government when considering how to help the situation and must be addressed.
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