The total number of full-time equivalent GPs working in England dropped by 1,193 in the year to September, figures from NHS Digital show. The numbers have shrunk despite efforts by the NHS, ministers and GP bodies to persuade existing family doctors to stay in post and to encourage medical graduates to make a career in general practice. The decrease raises doubts over whether Jeremy Hunt’s pledge to increase GPs by 5,000 by 2020, which was first made in 2015, will be delivered. Labour accused the health secretary of “astonishing failure” on a key NHS target. GPs’ workloads have risen by 16% over the last seven years but the number of family doctors has not kept pace, Stokes-Lampard said.

Source: The Guardian November 21, 2017 18:57 UTC