Are there 2,000 more GPs than before the pandemic?

Health Minister Neil O'Brien spoke connected 9 May astir the authorities of the NHS connected BBC Breakfast, which had earlier heard from a GP who said determination was an urgent request for much doctors.

Mr O'Brien said: "We've got 2,000 much doctors moving successful wide signifier than we did successful 2019 earlier the pandemic."

Mr O'Brien was talking astir the fig of GPs successful England. Health is simply a devolved issue, which means that the UK authorities is lone liable for England's NHS.

The accustomed mode to comparison numbers of GPs is to look astatine the fig of "full clip equivalent" GPs, which is provided by NHS Digital.

Full-time equivalent (FTE) means that alternatively of counting the fig of GPs careless of the fig of hours they are employed for, you number the fig of contracted GP hours. That means, for example, that if you had 2 GPs contracted to enactment fractional the week each that would number arsenic 1 FTE GP.

We're looking astatine the figures for December 2019 due to the fact that that was erstwhile the authorities promised that it would summation the fig of GPs successful England by 6,000 by March 2025.

In March 2023 (the latest disposable data) that fig was 36,428 - an summation of 1,909, which is conscionable nether 2,000.

But determination are different ways to counting the fig of GPs.

The figures supra see GPs who are not afloat qualified and are inactive successful training.

Having tons of trainee GPs is simply a bully happening if you're trying to summation GP numbers successful the longer term.

But trainee GPs don't spot arsenic galore patients arsenic fully-qualified GPs. Some of their clip is dedicated to acquisition and immoderate of the appointments they transportation retired are supervised by fully-qualified GPs, taking them distant from seeing different patients.

If you exclude trainee GPs, determination are 823 less GPs present than determination were successful December 2019.

We asked the Department of Health and Social Care which figures the wellness caput was referring to, but person not yet heard back.