The Doctors\u2019 Association UK highlighted the pressures facing GPs and primary care during a discussion on national radio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Steve Taylor, DAUK spokesperson, said GPs were carrying out more face-to-face appointments than before the pandemic PLUS an additional 20 to 25 per cent online, over the phone or by video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that was despite there being a UK-wide shortfall of between 7,000 and 8,00 GPs, he told listeners to the Nick Ferrari programme on LBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said cuts to funding were creating \u2018a perfect storm\u2019 by making it harder to recruit and retain GPs, which increases the pressure on those already in practice <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Taylor said: \u201cFunding of primary care and community care – and I don\u2019t mean just GPs but also district nurses, health visitors and all of those things – primary care is generally underfunded, which means we don\u2019t have enough cash in the primary care set up to recruit and retain doctors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are 2,000 fewer GPs now than there were in 2015, which is a huge drop given that in 2015 we knew then that we needed 5,000 more GPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s 7,000 or 8,000 fewer than we need now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been a GP for 30 years and it was better 10 years ago when overall numbers of GPs were increasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut if you keep cutting community care the job gets harder and harder and there\u2019s a perfect storm then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Taylor added: \u201cOverall physical access to GPs has gone up considerably over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere were more people seen face to face last year than the year before, and that\u2019s more than in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn addition to that, there were 20 to 25 per cent more appointments given online, by telephone and via computer access. They are the extra appointments on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know it\u2019s surprising, there will be 1.4m people having access to GP appointments today, and 70 per cent of those will be face to face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The interview also touched on some of the issues facing accident and emergency departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to an analysis by the Liberal Democrats, a record 420,000 patients waited more than 12 hours to be admitted to hospital from A&E in 2023 – an average of 1,150 a day – up 20 per cent on the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Taylor said: \u201cIt\u2019s dreadful. I\u2019ve been a patient and I\u2019ve sat with friends in A&E and it\u2019s an awful situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe overall numbers of people attending A&E aren\u2019t hugely up, so the problem is somewhere else, so it does appear to be that the A&E departments aren\u2019t able to move people on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLast year, Rishi Sunak said he would try to get 5,000 more beds for this coming winter to cover the problems and, sadly, we\u2019re into winter and have 1,000 fewer beds than we had last winter, which is appalling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The interview is available below to listen to again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n