Efforts to recruit more GPs are not yet bearing fruit as numbers continue to decline, according to figures published yesterday.

By September last year, 96 fewer full-time equivalent posts were filled in general practice than a year earlier, according to NHS Digital. A total of 34,495 posts was filled.

The number of doctors working in general practice fell less – by just 12 – suggesting a continued move towards part-time working.

During the 12 months, some 3,999 doctors joined general practice while 3,347 left the profession.

The figures are incomplete as it is the first time NHS Digital has compiled figures of this kind. But it warned that the numbers leaving general practice had increased substantially – by more than 20%.

GP leaders reacted in dismay to the news.

Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chair of the British Medical Association, said the situation was “disastrous,” calling for the government to step up delivery of its promise to recruit 5,000 more GPs.

He said: “These figures clearly demonstrate that the crisis in general practice is getting worse, not better. GP practices across England are struggling to provide enough appointments because they do not have the GPs to see the sheer number of patients coming through the surgery door.”

He added: “It’s also vital that everyone in government backs GPs and their hardworking teams rather than denigrating them, such as in recent comments by the prime minister.

“This unfair criticism will do nothing to address the fact that too few medical graduates are choosing a career as a GP and many experienced GPs are opting to leave the NHS altogether.”

Royal College of GPs chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said the figures were “disappointing to say the least.”

She said: “Sadly they will come as no surprise to our hard working GPs and practice teams who are coping with the impact of this on a daily basis.

“We are feeling the effects of this on the ground as huge numbers of practices struggle to recruit GPs to fill vacancies, and this is now having a real human impact on our entire practice teams and our patients. We’re working our hardest – but we are already running on empty and in many cases, working at the absolute limits of what is safe.

“Everything that can be done must be done to reverse this trend.”