NHS spending on local surgeries has dropped

Family doctors are receiving a smaller slice of NHS funding than ever before and urgently need more support, the Royal College of General Practitioners has warned.

The share of NHS spending that goes to local general practices has slumped from 10.5 per cent in 2005, to 8.4 per cent today, according to a new analysis.

Dr Maureen Baker, the College’s new chair, said that family doctors were already “at breaking point”, adding that cuts were still coming in spite of Government plans to take pressure off A&E wards by expanding the role of GPs.

“On the one hand, the people who run the NHS across the UK say they want more people to be cared for in the community,” Dr Baker said. “On the other, resources have relentlessly drifted away from community-based health services towards more expensive hospital-based care.

"The flow of funding away from general practice has been contrary to the rhetoric and has happened in the absence of any overall strategy as to how we spend the NHS budget.”