The Royal College of General Practitioners estimates that around 4,200 GPs will receive their certificate of completion of training and qualify in 2025. This is around 1,339 more doctors than six years ago (2,861).
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: ‘It's great to see more registrars achieve their ambitions of qualifying to be General Practitioners, at a time where we so urgently need them to meet the increasingly complex health needs of our patients. These figures show that we are getting excellent new GPs into the workforce - our top priorities must now be ensuring they can find appropriate work, and keeping them in the profession, delivering patient care, for years to come.
‘We continue to hear reports from GP registrars that they are facing struggles finding appropriate roles – which is paradoxical at a time when patients crying out for more appointments, and general practice is under intense workload and workforce pressures. According to members, many practices are struggling to take on new roles due to lack of funding, resources and infrastructure.
‘While we support the ambitions of the 10-Year Health Plan and the shift of more healthcare from hospitals into the community, it just won't be possible without the numbers of GPs needed to deliver this extra work. We look to the revised Long-Term Workforce Plan, due soon, for greater commitments and a more detailed way forward as to how the Government will to recruit and retain the workforce we need.'
Dr Deepthi Lavu, newly-qualified GP and co-chair of the RCGP Registrar Committee, added: ‘Qualifying after years of training to become a specialist doctor should be a happy time to celebrate a momentous life achievement. But unfortunately, we know many registrars have very real concerns about finding a role.
‘Even though we have more patients in need of care, and more complex health challenges than ever, we are being told that there aren't enough job opportunities available for those entering the workforce as qualified GPs.
‘We have some incredible young doctors ready to work, and we need to be doing everything we can to keep them in the NHS providing the safe and timely care patients need.'
