As many as 40% of practice premises are “unfit for purpose”, according to a major survey of general practice staff published today.

88% of staff said they do not have enough consulting rooms while 66% said limited space is hampering the training of GPs. As many as 75% said space shortages were limiting the number of trainee GPs in the survey undertaken by the Royal College of GPs.

The college said 75% of respondents said they had been refused funding to upgrade premises and 46% said they were working with unfit computer equipment – with 38% reporting poor broadband connections. It released its findings as the Government promised upgraded phone equipment – but the college says practice needs go far beyond phone equipment. Some 2,649 staff took part in the survey including 1,234 partners, 297 practice managers together with salaries, trainee and locum doctors.

College chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: “It makes for troubling reading to hear just how many practices, and in turn patients, are suffering whether it’s from a lack of sufficient space or an inability to coordinate with other care teams due to outdated IT systems. General practice is the front door of the NHS, crucial to the delivery of healthcare nationwide, and yet we’re under-equipped. This report reflects the difficult reality that many GPs and our patients are experiencing on a daily basis due to decades of neglect and underfunding for general practice. The demand for our services and number of patients is rising but many practices and the number and size of consulting rooms they have are simply not up to scratch, and not even close to the level we need to ensure that we’re training an adequate number of GPs.

“In addition, we are also being asked to train pharmacy, nursing and physician associate students, as well as many medical students, but there really isn’t enough room for them in many GP practices. The recent GP Access recovery plan presented some encouraging initiatives that may improve some of the infrastructure problems we’re facing. However, none of the recent measures announced will be delivered overnight, nor will they address the widespread structural issues affecting many surgeries. Looking forwards, if we are indeed aiming to be working in an integrated manner with other health and care services co-located with us, there needs to be a significant increase in funding for primary care infrastructure, to enable this to happen across the UK.”