GP appointments: Essex facing doctor shortages

A "huge shortage" of doctors across Essex has left the county without 300 GPs, a council leader warned.

Stephen Robinson, Lib Dem leader of Chelmsford City Council, claimed an increase in demand for GPs had not been met with extra funding.

NHS data showed more than half of Essex's 1.8m population have a GP appointment every month.

A government spokesperson said nationally there were 34,000 extra staff in surgeries compared to 2019.

But Mr Robinson called on more money to be invested in the medical school at Anglia Ruskin University's campus in Chelmsford, which trains 100 doctors a year.

"There's a huge shortage of doctors in Essex - we need 300 new doctors a year to keep up with the demand and retirements of GPs," he said.

"We all know that waiting lists from hospitals and GPs have been going up all the time, it's a really difficult situation.

"You have people going to hospitals who really shouldn't be there because they've got relatively minor problems, and they should be able to see a GP but they can't get an appointment."

Concerns have also been raised by leaders at the British Medical Association who said people need many more appointments than they used to.

Dr James Booth, a locum GP based in the Chelmsford area, said: "We have this great problem where we have an ever-increasing population, and a population growing older that has complex health demands.

"We've seen, nationally, GP practices closing or amalgamating. It's a trend which looks like it's getting worse and worse and we need solutions to it."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said its long-term workforce plan would "transform" GP services nationwide.

They said it would provide 2,000 more GP training places a year by 2031 and added there were 2,800 more doctors now compared to 2019.

"GP funding increased in real terms by 19% between 2017 and 2022, and our primary care recovery plan is investing up to £645m to expand pharmaceutical services and take pressure off general practice," they added.

William Guy, director of primary care for NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board, said: "We recognise the vital role that GP practice teams play and have been working hard to improve access to local services and support local recruitment and retention.

"While we continue to work to ensure service can meet local demand, we can confirm that the general practice workforce across mid and south Essex has risen significantly since data collection started. As of December 2023, there are over 4,000 staff employed in primary care, equivalent to 3,156 full-time equivalent staff."

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