GP numbers rise as patient numbers fall in Sheffield

The Royal College of GPs has warned ‘valuable GP time must be spent on the frontline’ during the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, with patient numbers expected to surge over the coming weeks.

NHS England data reveals 616,210 patients were registered at GP practices in the NHS Sheffield clinical commissioning group area on March 1.

The number has decreased by 224 since the start of the year, when there were 616,434 patients spread between 377 GPs, according to workforce figures taken a day earlier

Different NHS figures show the number of full-time equivalent GPs in Sheffield is growing – over the course of 2019, 15 more GPs took on 7,256 more patients.

That means the average GP now has about 1,635 patients, compared to 1,683 at the start of last year.with The figures include partners, registrars and salaried GPs as well as locum and retained GPs, but not other practice staff.

Across England, 60.4 million patients were registered at GP practices at the start of March.

But, despite a rise in GPs, the number fully qualified fell to 28,319 in December 2019 – 277 fewer than in December 2018.

Prof Martin Marshall, Royal College of GPs chairman, said: “Even in the face of the outbreak, primary care teams are still seeing more than a million non-coronavirus related patients a day.

"Most patients are, understandably, seeking advice and reassurance from their GPs about Covid-19 during routine appointments and this is having an impact on GPs’ time.

“New primary care working arrangements, such as telephone triage and video consultations, will help, but remote consultations will not suit every patient. It’s inevitable pressures and patient numbers will grow over the coming weeks, and possibly months, as the situation develops. GPs will always do their best for patients. However, there are limits beyond which we can no longer guarantee safe care. We need to ensure valuable GP time is spent on the frontline, so the temporary halt of inspections by the Care Quality Commission is a welcome measure."