A recent survey by the British Medical Association (BMA) has found that almost 300 GP practices in England could close because they are financially unsustainable and nearly half of those polled have doctors who are planning to leave the NHS.

The poll, which received responses from about a third of all surgeries, paints a bleak picture of the prospects for general practice, with just one in 20 reporting that their finances were in a strong state.

Meanwhile separate NHS data suggests that there are 40 million additional patient consultations a year at GP practices than in 2008/09 and the BMA, which remains at loggerheads with the Government over the new junior doctors contract, claims that family doctors are “overwhelmed”.

A spokesman for the BMA’s GP committee said that the survey provides further evidence of the state of emergency facing general practice. He added that as GP services struggle to replace existing staff who leave, it will inevitably make it more difficult to maintain current services for patients and particularly to offer enough appointments for them.

The BMA believes that GP practices are facing this dire situation because they are being overwhelmed by rising patient demand, cuts to funding, staff shortages and more unfunded work being moved from hospitals into the community.

In addition, almost 40 per cent of the practices polled said they had GPs planning to retire. This is of particular concern, as the sector is struggling to recruit new medical graduates. In fact, figures from the GP National Recruitment Office released last year showed that there are a large number of trainee posts in England that remain unfilled.

Commenting on the survey results, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health (DH) said that the body accepts that GPs are under pressure, which it is why it has agreed “record investment” for general practice.