DOCTORS have pointed to a crisis in Lancashire’s primary care services due to a lack of people willing to become a GP.

Dr Paul Fourie, of Witton Medical Centre, in Blackburn, said medics’ morale had been ‘systematically dismantled’ by the current Government, due to an increase in workload, bureaucracy and regulation, and a reduction in pay.

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He said the onslaught has led to a worrying shortage of young GPs in East Lancashire, which means his practice is struggling to replace two senior doctors who are set to retire.

He said: “Morale is low. It’s getting more and more expensive to be a GP and no one wants to do it.

“We’ve got doctors retiring and we can’t fully replace them, so we’re having to rely on locums who don’t have the same commitment or responsibility, and patients don’t get the consistency or continuity of care.

“Isn’t it understandable when you continue to increase workload and reduce pay, increase bureaucracy and reduce autonomy, tie up experienced doctors in management roles and replace professionalism with protocols?”

Nationally there has been a rise in GPs applying to move abroad, and a recent survey showed more than half of GPs were considering early retirement.

Peter Higgins, of Lancashire and Cumbria Local Medical Committee, said working as a locum is now a more attractive proposition for doctors, as they do not have the same responsibilities or workloads.

And he said their daily fees are being pushed up due to rising demand, with some now earning about £800 per day, when fees were as low as £300 a few years ago, which has put more pressure on practices.

But Andrew Stephenson, Conservative MP for Pendle, said: “There have always been difficulties recruiting GPs into East Lancashire, but that’s a long-standing issue with people not necessarily wanting to move to a rural area.”

He said that new regulations had helped improve care in the wake of scandals such as the Harold Shipman case, and said GPs ‘need to be able to manage their resources better and get on with it’.

Up to 3,000 doctors have been hired from overseas by the NHS in the past year, as the service battles to tackle staff shortages. They came from at least 27 countries, including India, Poland, Australia, Greece, Iraq, Syria and Sudan.