General Practitioners: Recruitment and Retention

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Monday 12th June 2023 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current state of recruitment and retention of general practitioners.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and declare my interest with Dispensing Doctors.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord Markham) (Con)]

We acknowledge that there are challenges in growing GP numbers. We are working with NHS England and the profession to explore measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encourage them to return to practice. As of March 2023, there were 1,903 more full-time equivalent doctors working in general practice compared with March 2019, and we have a record 4,000 doctors in GP training.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

I have slightly different figures, although I thank my noble friend for his Answer. Since 2015, there has been an 18% increase in the number of patients per GP but a 7% reduction in GPs, with potentially 39% of the GP workforce considering leaving the profession in the next five years. Does my noble friend share my concern about the recruitment and retention of GPs? What urgent action is he going to take to address the workforce strategy for GPs to double the number of medical training places and to ensure that general practice once again becomes an attractive place for doctors to work?