Recent research has revealed that more than 80 per cent of GPs plan to quit the profession altogether, take a career break or reduce the number of hours they work over the next five years, with only 6 per cent saying they planned to increase their hours.

According to the survey, undertaken by Warwick Medical School, the key factors influencing GPs to quit or cut back hours were plans for a seven-day GP service, intensity of workload, volume of workload, job satisfaction, or the lack of it, and time spent on unimportant tasks. Meanwhile, some cited age and changes to pension rules as reasons why they wanted to cut back or quit.

However, the Government has pledged to deliver an extra 5,000 GPs by 2020 to bolster the primary care workforce. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health (DH) said that it will deliver an estimated 5,000 more doctors in general practice by 2020, as part of a 10,000-strong boost to primary and community care staff.

GPs have already welcomed the use of other health care workers in practices, as they reduce practice pressure and free them up to spend more time with patients. This is part of the Government’s ‘new deal’ for reducing workload pressures on GPs.

As part of this plan, NHS England will expand its pilot that sees practices part-funded to employ pharmacists. Under the proposals, the organisation will fund 60 per cent of the costs of the pharmacists to the practices for the first 12 months of employment, which will decrease to 40 per cent for the second year and 20 per cent for the third.