Doctors surgery: Every Peterborough GP now responsible for 2,304 patients as health service at 'breaking point'

Each of the 602 GPs in Peterborough are now responsible for 2,304 patients as doctors are "stretched to breaking point," according to a new report.

This shocking new figure has increased year-on-year by 426 patients, according to the Primary Care Services report.

Last year each GP - including 101 registrars - were allocated 1,878 patients - working across the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Service (ICS).

‘Seventy hour weeks’

Dr Fiona Head, ICS chief medical officer and medical director, said: “We are aware that people are complaining that they have difficulties getting through to their GP to make appointments, but GPs in our region are stretched to their breaking point.

“It is not that they don’t work enough hours – many GPs work sixty, seventy or even more hours a week – but the sheer numbers of patients per GP is rising all the time, and the number of GPs is, at the same time, falling."

Peterborough has the highest proportion of GPs and nurses, over the age of 55, across the entire region, at 29 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.

She added: “Most of the GPs in the Peterborough area are, like myself, in their mid-fifties or even older.

"They simply cannot see any change in their workload in the near future so that some of them are taking early retirement, while others have chosen to move away to different regions where the pressure on them is not so high.

“This is then compounded by the problems the NHS is having with recruiting new GPs to come and work for us, and while this is a national issue the problem is not being resolved fast enough.”

Understand ‘frustration’

The report, which was presented to the Adults and Health Scrutiny Committee at their meeting on 27 September, showed that the actual GP workforce has dropped alarmingly since 2019.

Jan Thomas, who is chief executive officer of the NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Service, is an experienced healthcare leader with over 25 years working in and with the NHS.

She added: “The ICS is here to help and since we took over from the former Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) communication and cooperation between the various groups and partnerships within the NHS has improved enormously.

“But that doesn’t help the patient who picks up the phone because they need their GP and then cannot get through or cannot make an appointment as soon as they would perhaps like to – and we understand how frustrating that can be.

“Our Training Hub are working on increasing the number of trainees allocated to Peterborough by increasing the number of accredited GP practices on the training programme.

"But currently, only 21 per cent of GP practices are so accredited, although Peterborough does have the highest number across the entire ICS area."

Currently, 17 apprentices are employed across Peterborough GP practices.

Each being trained in several different areas from direct health care to dispensing pharmacy prescriptions.

Peterborough also had the highest amount of funding in the ICS region – over £515,000 of investment in GPs – who would otherwise have retired.

In 2021, NHS England instructed GPs to re-prioritise work to support the COVID vaccination programme into 2022 but that focus has now shifted and GPs are being encouraged to see patients face-to-face.

Is there new plans in place for more GP appointments in Peterborough?

The Primary Care Report plans to add additional, bookable appointments outside of normal hours between 6.30pm and 8pm weekday evenings and 9am-5pm on Saturdays.

They would use the full ‘multi-disciplinary team’ at a GP surgery who can offer a wide range of general practice services such as screening, vaccinations, and health checks.

This will require each Primary Care Network to provide an additional 50 hours per week of extra clinical appointments.

It means an extra 430 clinicians across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will be required.

Clinical pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, social prescribers, dieticians, and paramedics are able to work in these appointment times.

The idea of having these additional roles within a GP surgery is to streamline patients healthcare needs to the most appropriate healthcare clinician.

This should release the GPs time so that they can focus on more complex long-term conditions, disease management and continuity of care.

The next Adults and Health Care Committee meeting will be held on 11 October and on 8 November.