Threefold rise in vacancies for GPs

The number of unfulfilled vacancies for family doctors has tripled in the past two years, the Government admitted yesterday. The British Medical Association described the shortage of general practitioners as "dismal" and predicted the problem was about to get even worse.

The Department of Health revealed there were 322 unfilled vacancies for doctors in England and Wales, compared with 147 last year and 102 in the year 2000.

More than 100 of the posts had been empty for more than a year, with practices serving deprived inner cities reporting the worst problems in recruiting staff.

The number of doctors who have left general practice to take up another job elsewhere in the NHS has increased from 14 in 2001 to 40 this year.

John Chisholm, chairman of the BMA's general practitioners committee, said: "This situation is likely to get worse as large numbers of south Asian trained GPs who came here in the 1960s and 1970s and have practised in these areas for many years now reach retirement age. In some areas this will represent a loss of one in four general practitioners."

Dr Chisholm said a survey of GPs last year had revealed that 28 per cent were seriously considering changing career.

Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: "Even after five years of the Government saying it is tackling the problem, the crisis is heading towards meltdown."

A Department of Health spokesman said the increased vacancies reflected the Government's drive to increase GP numbers by 2,000 to more than 30,000 by the end of 2004. He added: "There are more GPs working in the NHS than ever before."