Record number of medical practices are closing
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- Published: Monday, 24 April 2017 07:56
- Written by News Editor
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Record numbers of GP practices are closing, following a rise in the number of doctors retiring early ahead of a tax clampdown on pension pots. More than 250,000 patients were ‘displaced’ by surgery closures in the last year. In total, the number of practices closing has risen five-fold since 2013. A new survey also says that nearly 40% of GPs in the South West of England say they are highly likely to quit the profession because of low morale and overwhelming workloads.
The Telegraph has reported that a quarter of a million people have lost local practice as record numbers of surgeries shut amid pension clampdown. Senior doctors are saying that communities were being left bereft, with elderly patients increasingly enduring long journeys to see a doctor, and longer waiting times. The exodus follows a change to pensions which has led to a sharp rise in the number of GPs retiring early to reduce their tax burden. Since 2012, the cap on what savers can amass without being taxed has dropped from £1.8 million to £1 million.
Last year, a report by the King’s Fund found that 15.5 per cent of GPs aged between 55 and 59 had left the profession in 2014 – twice the rate of a decade ago. Meanwhile, the numbers retiring or going part-time is failing to be matched by that of new recruits.
In the last year, the total number of family doctors has fallen by 400, despite targets to boost numbers by 5,000 amid rising demand. The new figures, from Pulse magazine, show a five-fold rise in closures of GP practices since 2013. In total, 92 practices closed last year, with 57 shutting completely and the rest closing as a result of mergers into “supersurgeries”.
This compares with 20 such closures in 2013. As a result, 265,000 patients saw their practice close last year, compared with 43,000 in 2013. New figures show a steep rise in closures, while the average number of patients per practice has risen by almost 20 per cent in a decade.
Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “Unfortunately, too many practices are being forced to close because GPs and their teams can no longer cope with ever-growing patient demand without the necessary funding and workforce to deal with it.”
Additionally, nearly 40% of GPs in the South West of England say they are highly likely to quit the profession because of low morale and overwhelming workloads, a survey carried out by the University of Exeter suggests. The poll of more than 2,200 general practitioners, published in BMJ Open, found that 70% intend on reducing their contact with patients in some way over the next five years - through permanently leaving, taking a career break, or by cutting their hours. More than half of those polled reported low morale - and the professor behind the research has warned that similar figures across other British regions would necessitate robust action "swiftly and urgently" to prevent a staffing crisis.
Separately the Times reported that ‘dozens’ of GP surgeries across the country are threatened with closure after the NHS increased its property service charges by up to 1,000%. Hundreds of surgeries that rent premises from the NHS have been hit by the increased charges. Practices say they may have to close or else cut back on nurses and doctors. Some surgeries that have refused to pay the invoices have been sent letters threatening legal action and the use of debt collection agencies. The demands are being made by NHS Property Services (NHSPS). Practices facing demands of up to £100,000 in extra maintenance costs complain that the charges are unfair and unjustified. They also say that some of the figures have been miscalculated.
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