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Jeremy Hunt has been slammed after the latest figures from the NHS revealed the number of doctors have fallen - despite his promise not to cut GP numbers.

Labour have said the stats are "more dismal evidence of the Government letting down patients".

The number of GPs in England fell by 0.6% at the end of last year, with many leaving the profession as the "pressure has become too much", their professional body has said.

The Royal College of GPs said the latest NHS Digital figures show the number of family doctors fell to 33,872 in December from 34,091 in September.

In September 2015 the number of full-time equivalent GPs was 34,592 - a drop of 3%.

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CGP chairwoman Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said the workload in general practice has increased by at least 16% over the last seven years, but the number of GPs delivering care to patients has not risen in line with this.

She warned that patients suffer from there being fewer family doctors and measures need to be taken to attract new GPs as well as retain existing ones.

"This is very disappointing news - and frustrating as even a small drop in GP numbers can have a huge ripple effect on hard-working GPs, our teams and the care we are able to give to our patients," she added.

"GPs are currently facing intense resource pressures, and we desperately need more doctors if we stand any chance of turning this crisis around.

"For some, the pressure has become too much and it's genuinely awful that some GPs are prematurely leaving a profession which, when properly resourced and funded, can be so rewarding and fulfilling.

"GPs are the cornerstone of our NHS - a system which is the envy of the world - but there is a limit to what we can do and there simply aren't enough of us to deliver the safe care our patients need and deserve."

Labour attacked the health secretary's record after the latest NHS performance data and GP workforce figures which has shown that GP numbers fell over the last few months of 2017.

This is despite the Tories' promise in 2015 to deliver 5000 more GPs by 2020.

Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth MP said: “This is yet more dismal evidence of the Government letting down patients.

“The fact that GP numbers have fallen again blows apart any claim from Theresa May that the NHS was better prepared than ever before.

(Image: Getty)

“The sad reality is that this winter crisis was entirely predictable and avoidable but Tory ministers have point blank refused to give the NHS and social care the investment required."

Figures also show that 150,000 patients in England have waited more than 30 minutes before being admitted to A&E this winter.

Data from the end of November to 11 February showed the number of people waiting half an hour or longer was 149,214, while a further 35,535 people waited more than an hour.

Hospitals are struggling to keep to strict rules put in place this winter which say patients must wait no longer than 15 minutes.

The latest figures on hospital performance showed bed occupancy remained high, at 95% for general and acute care beds and 85.5% for adult critical care beds.

Dr Nick Scriven, the president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “NHS England suggests that overall bed occupancy figures have eased a little, but the reality on the frontline is very different. The easing really only reflects that beds in surgical units are empty at midnight when the official data is counted.”

Scriven said moving patients from emergency departments to wards that may or may not have a free bed “merely hides suffering and indignity from official gaze”. From the emergency department perspective, he said “this eases figures and jams, but it is opposite of caring, compassionate and safe care."

An NHS England spokesman said: "Despite a spike in norovirus cases, latest monthly figures show that social care-related Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOCs) are at their lowest in two years, and NHS-related DTOCs are at their lowest in four years, thereby successfully freeing up 2,000 beds across the NHS for patients needing admission."

Figures released last week showed that just 85.3% of patients were seen at A&E departments within the waiting-time target of four hours in January - the second-worst month on record.