02/10/2014
Over 500 GP Practices In England Could Be Forced To Close
Over 500 GP practices in England could be forced to close within the next year because of a crisis in GP recruitment and retention, which is leaving many practices unable to replace family doctors who are retiring from the profession.
New figures released by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCPG) show that over 90% of the GPs working in these practices are now aged over 60.
Unless action is taken to make sure that there are enough doctors to take their place, thousands of patients could be forced to travel miles to their nearest GP practice or be left stranded with no family doctor at all.
The future of patient care will be sounded by Dr Maureen Baker, Chair of the RCGP in her speech to the College's national conference in Liverpool today.
Addressing an expected audience of over 2,000 GPs and health professionals, Dr Baker will warn that the crisis in the GP workforce is now so severe that the number of people entering the profession is falling drastically short of the number of GPs who are leaving in their droves to take early retirement, work abroad or pursue entirely different careers.
(CD/IT)
New figures released by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCPG) show that over 90% of the GPs working in these practices are now aged over 60.
Unless action is taken to make sure that there are enough doctors to take their place, thousands of patients could be forced to travel miles to their nearest GP practice or be left stranded with no family doctor at all.
The future of patient care will be sounded by Dr Maureen Baker, Chair of the RCGP in her speech to the College's national conference in Liverpool today.
Addressing an expected audience of over 2,000 GPs and health professionals, Dr Baker will warn that the crisis in the GP workforce is now so severe that the number of people entering the profession is falling drastically short of the number of GPs who are leaving in their droves to take early retirement, work abroad or pursue entirely different careers.
(CD/IT)
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