60% of GP surgeries surveyed in London are under financial strain, and 25% may face closure, leaving Londoners at growing risk of losing their local practices.
The figures come from Vijay Acharya, proprietor of Charles Rippin and Turner (CRT), who surveyed 209 out of the 350 GP practices his firm looks after.
The situation has worsened since his previous survey, when 45% of practices were under financial strain and 15% faced closure.
Meanwhile, 20% are now under pressure to merge or become part of larger GP hubs, up from 15%, while 95% have vacancies.
Mr Acharya said: “The financial pressure on GP practices is increasing. Staffing costs, pension and National Insurance contributions, estates pressures, inflation and increased administrative demands are all adding to the cost of running a practice.
“Unlike hospitals, GP practices are not paid based on the number of times a patient walks through the door. A significant part of their funding is linked to the patients registered with them each year.
“That creates a difficult situation when practices are dealing with more demand and higher costs, but don’t necessarily have the funding or staff to provide more appointments.
“Patients are struggling to see a GP, yet 95% of the practices we surveyed have vacancies. Practices need more staff, but the financial pressures they are under can make recruitment and retaining staff increasingly difficult.”
Mr Acharya said the growing financial pressures are also contributing to more practices considering mergers and operating as larger hubs.
He said: “We’re seeing more practices under pressure to merge and become larger hubs.
“There can be financial and operational reasons for doing that, but it also changes the experience for patients. Smaller local practices become less common, and patients can find themselves using much larger surgeries.
“Previous generations knew one GP for years, whereas now that personal relationship is becoming much harder to maintain.”
The latest figures come as practices are also dealing with the financial impact of the NHS’s accelerated patient list validation programme.
One London practice supported by CRT has already lost around £75,000 following patient removals from its list, reducing funding that would otherwise have supported staff, appointments and patient care.
Mr Acharya said: “This is another financial pressure when many practices are already struggling.
“Accurate patient lists are important, but when patients are removed, practices can lose funding. One practice we work with has already lost around £75,000.
“That is a large amount of money for a GP practice when it’s already dealing with higher staffing costs, rising demand and vacancies.”
The patient list validation process has also raised concerns about homeless people, those living in temporary accommodation and other vulnerable patients who may not receive or respond to correspondence asking them to confirm their registration.
Mr Acharya said: “GP practices are being expected to deliver high standards of patient care while also dealing with increasingly complicated financial and administrative pressures.
“The time partners can devote to understanding accounts, funding changes and longer-term planning is incredibly limited.
“This isn’t a criticism of GPs. It’s a sign that the operating environment has become increasingly difficult. If practices continue to lose funding while their costs and patient demand increase, more of them are going to struggle to make the numbers work.”
Vijay Acharya, whose firm has supported GP practices since the inception of the NHS in 1948, is a healthcare policy analyst and former NHS manager. He has been the proprietor of Charles Rippin and Turner (CRT) for 24 years. CRT has looked after clients in the healthcare sector for more than 80 years, taking a more personalised approach to accounting.
Contributed content: this article was written by a third-party contributor and does not necessarily reflect the views of News Anyway. Editorial and Advertising Policy