Wakefield General Practice Workforce Survey - latest results

Submissions to the General Practice Workforce Survey toolkit was again 100% for practices in Wakefield at the end of Q2 2017/18. This compared to a response rate of 55% at the end of Q1. The improved performance is because the Academy Co-ordinator proactively contacted practices before the submission deadline to ensure that they had submitted data.

The number of practices in Wakefield has fallen from 38 to 36 but the report still does not reflect further practice mergers that have taken place. Below is a summary of the latest data compared with the last reliable quarter data (Q4 16/17).


This is a graph of workforce trends over the four years we have been collecting data for.


Looking at the data at the end of Q2 17/18 compared with Q4 16/17:
  • The number of wte GPs in Wakefield has reduced from 232 to 212
  • There is continued low risk from retirement of GPs
  • The number of practice nurses has reduced from 152 to 137
  • There is continued high risk from retirement of GP Nurses
  • The number of staff involved in direct patient care, practice management and apprentices has also reduced.
  • The trend data shows the dip in GP and practice nurse numbers. 

When submitted data practices are asked to add comments about the workforce risks they see and any mitigations they are planning to reduce these risks. The narrative is very similar to previous reports:

Risks – GP retirements, GP practice nurses retirements, increasing workload, new housing developments

Mitigations – recruiting nurse via GPN Ready Scheme, GPWER, extending roles of HCAs

In summary the latest data shows dips in GP and GP Practice Nurse numbers and the trend data shows a continued increase in the number of staff in direct patient care roles. There is low risk of retirement from GPs but a high risk from GP Practice Nurses. This data is similar to the picture at the end of March 2017 and it will be interesting to see in the next quarter whether the dip in GP and GP Practice Nurse numbers continues.

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