Despite increases to the NHS budget over recent years, family doctors say that GP surgeries now receive considerably less funding as the extra money has been redirected towards hospitals.
According to research by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), GPs now get £2.4 billion a year less because the funding they receive has not kept pace with the sum going to hospitals. Their research shows that there is a funding black hole facing family doctors of £9 billion in England, £925m in Scotland, and £250m in Wales.
The swing from general practice to hospitals can be seen when overall doctor numbers are viewed. Eleven years ago there were 2,500 more full-time equivalent GPs than hospital doctors. In 2012 (the latest year for which figures are available) there were 31,700 GPs compared to 38,200 hospital doctors, meaning there were 6,500 more hospital doctors than family doctors. By 2022, the RCGP predicts that unless current trends change there will be 37,000 GPs compared to 59,000 hospital doctors, meaning that there will be 22,000 more full-time equivalent hospital consultants than family doctors.
The RCGP recently revealed that the proportion of the UK NHS budget spent on general practice had dropped to the lowest percentage share on record, standing at 8.39%, despite 90% of NHS patient contacts being carried out in general practice. It says that the only way to halt this trend is to increase the share of the NHS budget that goes to general practice from the current 8.39% to 11% by 2017, starting with an increase of one percentage point of the NHS budget next year.
A recent RCGP survey has shown that more than 70% of GPs are predicting longer waiting times in the next two years, in part due to cuts in resources. It is believed that around 27m patients in England will have to wait for a week or more to see their GP during 2014.
In response to the current situation, the RCGP and the National Association for Patient Participation (N.A.P.P.) have launched a major campaign called Put patients first: Back general practice and they want patients to get involved.
RCGP Chair Dr Maureen Baker said: “Most people want to be looked after in their local community and they want to be able to see their GP quickly. The dramatic diversion of doctor posts away from general practice into hospitals works against this fundamentally important principle.”
“It is vital to ensure that patients are able to access their local GP quickly and effectively - just as it is important for hospitals to have adequate numbers of qualified consultants to look after patients who are in need of acute health care. We need to ensure that we have enough GPs to provide patients with good access to high-quality health care in local communities across the UK.”
Patricia Wilkie, Chair of N.A.P.P, said: "Patients greatly value being able to consult with and speak to their GP who is local, who knows the patient and their family and whom the patient trusts. Sadly very many patients are increasingly having to wait for one to two weeks and sometimes longer to see their GP.
"N.A.P.P. understands the many pressures on GPs. However, unless there is an increase in the overall numbers of GPs and more financial resources to practices to employ more GPs to provide a safe and timely service, patients will have no alternative but to use A&E to receive the medical attention they need. This is not what patients wish, nor the best use of NHS resources.”
