Thousands of student doctors have received a letter from Dr Maureen Baker, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners this week, encouraging them to consider a GP career after graduation.

The reason for this mid-December correspondence wasn’t concerned with Christmas wishes, though. The letter was sent as an attempt to address England’s ‘chronic shortage’ of GPs.

The RCGP sees a need for some 8,000 more GPs by 2020 if the NHS is going to cope with increases in patient demand and care, partly due to our ever ageing and growing population in the UK.  Figures show that 120,000 more consultations take place per day across the nation than in 2010, with Baker calling the General Practice today “one of the most challenging jobs in medicine.”

On the hard sell, the Chair’s letter explains that: “A career in general practice offers a great deal of flexibility. It allows you to fit the job around other major commitments, such as having a young family. It also gives you the chance to practise in the region of your choice and to decide whether to be wholly a generalist or to develop skills in a specific area as a GP with a special interest.”

This emergency call for new GPs comes partly as a result of more family doctors taking early retirement or emigrating to work abroad – many of them citing the increasing pressures of the job as reasons for the exodus. The number of GPs departing the NHS annually for overseas work has doubled under the coalition government. 529 family doctors were issued the Certificate of Good Standing in 2013 – mandatory for practising abroad – against 266 in 2009.

Dr Maureen Baker’s letter this week also claims that currently there is a “real push” to plumb more resources into general practice and build up the workforce. Her final message is that “the future of general practice is looking bright.”

What do you think? Is Dr Baker’s letter doing enough to generate a bigger influx of new GPs coming through the ranks? Should the focus be recruitment, or retention? Drop us a comment below, or take it to Practice Managers’ Forum. This discussion area is deliberately not Google indexed, so discussions cannot be brought up in an internet search and can only be seen by signed-up members.