BMA teams collate monthly appointment and workforce data onto their website, which is a great resource for signposting PPGs, local press and MPs. November 2023’s data shows that the NHS in England has 1,881 fewer fully qualified FTE GPs than in September 2015.

The number of GP practices in England has also decreased by 112 over the past year – reflecting a continued trend of closures as well as mergers, primarily due to a lack of workforce that coincides with a rise in patients.

Around 31.5 million appointments were booked in November 2023, with an average of 1.43 million appointments being delivered per working day, which is above the average of 1.39 million per day for the past year.

In addition, as of November 2023, there was another record-high of 63.03 million patients registered in England, with an average of 9,977 patients registered per practice.

A single full-time GP is now responsible for around 2,300 patients – an increase of 18% since September 2015, demonstrating the ever-mounting workload in general practice.

Click here for more infographics and data on showing the pressures in General Practice.

The BMA urge practices to continue to use their safe working guidance to limit contacts to 25 per day in order to prioritise safe patient care, within the present bounds of the GMS contract.