The number of GP partners has fallen by more than a fifth in the last seven years, according to new data showing how practices are struggling to cope with growing numbers of appointments.

Practices delivered a record number of appointments in February despite declines in the trained GP workforce, according to new NHS Digital data. It shows 16,962 GP partners working in February compared with 21,523 seven years earlier. Including locums and salaried doctors the number of trained GPs has fallen by more than 1,000 in the same period, standing now at 37,123 – while the number of trainees has increased by 3,300, reaching 8,341. Practices in England delivered 23,326,754 appointments in February and 15,531,970 were face to face. This compared with 21,635,984 appointments two years earlier at a time when more than 19 million appointments were face to face.

British Medical Association deputy chair Dr David Wrigley said: “Fewer GPs providing care to an increasing number of patients increases the risk of patient harm and poorer care through decision fatigue, as well as risking harm to the GP through burnout and psychological injury. Doctors are exhausted and many feel as though they have no choice but to leave the profession they love for the sake of their own health and wellbeing, thus creating a vicious cycle of even fewer GPs and even more burn out. That’s why it was so disappointing to see the scale of Government inaction.”

Royal College of GPs chair Professor Martin Marshall said: “Over the last six months, the numbers of appointments delivered in general practice every month has exceeded pre-pandemic levels. This sustained increase in patient need for our services and care is not being matched with the necessary resources and staff numbers to safely and sustainably cope. The government must make urgent progress on their manifesto pledge of an additional 6,000 GPs and 26,000 members of the wider practice team by 2024, to ensure general practice has the workforce capacity to care for the growing number of patients that need it both now and in the future.”

Dr Nicole Atkinson, medical adviser for primary care at the NHS Confederation, said: “GPs and other professionals are ramping up their appointments in the face of the same challenges as the rest of the NHS, including crippling staff vacancies and high sickness absences. This is why they were relieved the Government has confirmed free testing will continue for NHS staff from April alongside free PPE so that they can provide safe environments for their teams and patients, at a time when coronavirus is in high circulation. But to maintain this level of activity and respond to rising demand for healthcare, they desperately need a funded workforce strategy.”