Number of GPs serving Brighton & Hove patients continues to fall

The 2018 GP Review was particularly interested in examining how the patient workload was being spread across practices: were the number of patients per doctor fairly similar across practices or were some practices taking on particularly heavy caseloads? 

We used NHS Digital data (September 2017) to calculate the average number of patients per full-time equivalent GP at each practice.  The data showed significant variation in GP provision across practices with the large majority of practices having GP caseloads that were higher than the national average.

Overall, the provision of doctors in Brighton and Hove was an average of 2,394 patients per GP, significantly higher than the England national average of 1,762 patients per GP.

Most practices in Brighton and Hove (33 of 37, or 89%) had a higher figure than the national average for England.  Furthermore, four practices – Benfield Valley, Brighton Health and Wellbeing Centre, Matlock Road and University of Sussex - had more than 4,000 patients per doctor, with Benfield Valley having  6,329 patients per doctor.

More positively, eight practices in the city (22%) had less than 2,000 patients per doctor.

The extent of variation across practices is likely to impact the availability of doctors for consultations. While Healthwatch recognises that non-GP staff, e.g. nurses, provide significant primary care services at GP practices, doctors continue to deliver point of contact diagnosis for patients.  We consider it a matter of concern that at nine practices, a quarter of practices in the city, an average of over 3,000 patients were served by each full-time GP.  The practices with the two highest numbers of patients per GP were among the three lowest performing practices on the seven key performance indicators which Healthwatch used to measure quality of care.  This suggests there is a relationship between high patient caseloads and poorer patient experience.  Low provision of doctors to patients is likely to lead to difficulty accessing appointments and long appointment waits along with increased pressures on emergency health services.

As one of the key recommendations from the GP review, Healthwatch has urged Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to increase the number of GPs in the city.  We are currently discussing this issue with the CCG and will continue to monitor the situation closely.  Brighton and Hove needs primary care which can be accessed quickly, and without more doctors patients will continue to experience delays in getting the care they need.