Theresa May ’s plans to tackle chronic GP shortages are in disarray after the rate of doctors retiring early doubled.

The exodus of senior doctors driven by pay cuts and huge workloads is causing waits for GP appointments to soar.

New figures show the number of GPs per head of the population has fallen for each of the last four years - sparking calls from the British Medical Association on Government to “save general practice”.

The crisis is piling more pressure on the NHS as we can reveal 784 GPs retired under the age of 60 in 2016/17 compared to just 384 in 2009/10.

Almost 4,000 GPs have retired early in the past five years - nearly 1 in 10 of the profession.

Patients wait an average of 13 days for a GP visit, up from ten in 2015. Experts fear it could stretch to three weeks.

It will be a huge blow to the Prime Minister who made a key 2015 election pledge to recruit 5,000 new GPs by 2020 to cope with fast-rising workloads. Since since then numbers have dropped.

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(Image: Getty Images Europe)

Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said: “GPs have seen funding squeezed, now getting a smaller percentage of the overall health budget.

“We need a long term investment plan for our NHS and care sector urgently. Patients simply should not be expected to wait any longer.”

The number of family doctors per head of population has fallen in each of the past four years.

There were 70.1 GPs per 100,000 population in 2017 compared with 75.7 in 2014 - a drop of 7%.

The data was released by the Government as a result of a Parliamentary question from the Labour Party.

Workload in general practice has risen 16% over the last seven years according to the Royal College of GPs while funding in the service has been cut.

The average GP now carries out 41.5 consultations a day - way above the 25 maximum considered safe by European standards.

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Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “The GP workforce really is in dire straits across the country.

“It’s a massive concern for the future of our profession and the care we deliver to over a million patients across the country every day.

“NHS England’s GP Forward View promises 5,000 more GPs, and there is a huge amount of work going on to meet this target. However if more GPs are leaving the profession than joining it, we’re fighting a losing battle.

“Ultimately we need to comprehensively address escalating workloads, and deteriorating working conditions and we need to see good, effective initiatives being implemented to retain our existing workforce, so that highly-trained, skilled GPs stay in the profession for years to come.”

During the 2015 election campaign the Conservative Party promised to increase the number of doctors working in general practice by 5,000 by 2020.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed that commitment shortly after the election in an effort to tackle growing waits among our ageing population and stop desperate patients turning up at A&E.

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Since then NHS Digital data shows the total number of full time equivalent GPs has gone in to reverse, falling from 34,592 in 2015 down to 33,872 at the end of 2017.

Prime Minister Theresa May has repeatedly claimed there are “more GP training places than ever before” but it is unclear whether these are being filled.

The National Audit Office and health think-tank the King’s Fund have cast doubt on whether the 5,000 can be achieved as increasing numbers of GPs quit or work part-time.

The RCGPs analysis of the GP Patient Survey found that ill patients calling their local practice had to wait more than a week on 80 million occasions in 2016/17.

This is projected to rise to 102 million by 2021/22.

The worst areas to wait longer than a week to see a GP or practice nurse are Corby (36%), Fareham and Gosport (34%) and Swindon (31%).

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GP pay has fallen by 11% in real terms since 2008.

Dr Richard Vautrey, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said: “It’s a huge concern that we are losing so many highly skilled and experienced GPs but for growing numbers reducing their clinical commitment or leaving the profession altogether is the only way to respond to the unsafe workload demands and growing regulatory burdens placed upon them.

“We need to do much more to support this valuable section of the workforce.

“Saving general practice includes establishing a retention scheme for GP partners, further funding to expand the workforce and promoting general practice as an attractive career to trainees and medical students.”

A national poll by GPs magazine Pulse revealed the average GP has 41.5 daily “patient contacts”.

Some had 70 - almost three times the 25 maximum which is deemed safe by European standards.

The BMA has called for a limit to the number of daily consultations.

Labour has promised to give GP services a £500 million funding boost if they get in to power.

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Mr Ashworth added: “I want to put general practice at the heart of Labour’s vision for the NHS.

“General practice is not just highly valued by the public, accounting for 90% of interactions with the NHS, but essential to a secure, effective and efficient health service too.”

The average age of GPs drawing pensions dropped from 60.4 years in 2011/12 to 58.5 years in 2016/17.

Many are quitting jobs after a tax clampdown on GP pension pots.

Previously released official figures show that 41% - around 10,000 doctors - are 50 or over and are expected to quit within the next five to ten years.

Only 8% of GPs are under 30, and in some areas of England the proportion is as low as 0.5%.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “GPs who have been practising for a number of years are a valuable asset to the NHS and bring a wealth of experience to patients.

“There are a number of schemes available to encourage GPs thinking of retiring early to continue working.

“We are committed to recruiting more GPs into the profession and by 2020 we want to see an extra 5,000 doctors and an extra 5,000 other staff working in general practice.”

Case Study - Dr Sam Wessely

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(Image: DAILY MIRROR)

Dr Sam Wessely, consultant GP at Amersham Vale practice in south east London, said: “The news that more GPs are retiring early comes as no surprise to me.

“All the GPs I know are working flat out doing insane hours to get patients seen sooner.

“And eventually, as rewarding as the job can be, it wears you down. At some point you have to ask yourself: which is more important, my patients’ health or my own?

“The shame is that these senior GPs who are leaving have the most experience and therefore the most to offer both patients and the profession.

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“The government must do more to make the work of a GP less stressful and more manageable.

“Investing in training is not working - and it’s not enough.

“These statistics confirm that the government has failed to create a tolerable work environment. It’s like the Government is trying to run a bath with the plug out.”