Support rallied yesterday behind a GP trainee facing deportation over a visa mix-up. Several medical organisations declared their support for Dr Luke Ong – while a petition in his support was approaching 50,000 signatures early today. Dr Ong is close to completing his GP training but is facing a legal battle over a deportation order…

GPs and their staff in England are to benefit from a 1% pay increase together with substantial extra funding for expenses, it has been announced. The English GP contract deal came the day after a Welsh deal which also provided 1% for pay – but a lesser amount for rising expenses. And today the government…

GPs could benefit from a change in the tax rules aimed at encouraging the self-employed to improve their range of skills, experts have said. The changes would enable doctors and their staff to train in the skills needed to diversify and offer new services. The government is searching for ways to enable GPs and other…

All of England will have GP “extended access” this year, according to NHS planners. The programme is well ahead of schedule, allowing NHS England to set a deadline to complete it by October this year, according to an analysis of its planning guidance. However the new target still means the number of practices offering the…

(Time to read: 6 minutes) The recruitment of GPs remains a major headache for practice managers. Figures from NHS Digital show that almost 1,300 full-time equivalent GPs have been lost from the NHS workforce over the past two years. Throw into the mix a failure to recruit sufficient numbers into GP training posts and it’s easy…

Some GPs say they are undertaking 100 consultations a day – while the average doctor undertakes 41 a day, according to a survey published today. Senior GPs said the findings understated the pressures on primary care – as patients are also presenting with increasingly complex conditions. Some 20% of GPs reported undertaking more than 50…

We’re heading into 2018 and things in GP-Land haven’t looked this glum for a while. Demand from patients versus resources available, recruitment/retention issues for GPs, a practice nurse crisis and we have employees ready for retirement but not enough newly qualifieds to take over. Need I go on?