GP PRACTICES across East Lancashire are facing increasing recruitment problems and often have to pay agencies up to £650 a day for locum doctors.

This week the government announced a clampdown on staffing agencies charging high fees, after it was revealed an agency in London charged £3,700 for a doctor’s 30-shift.

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Blackburn GP Paul Fourie said at Witton Medical Centre where he works they have been trying to fill two doctor vacancies since Christmas.

He said they usually used self-employed locums, but if one of their doctors was ill they were often forced to pay an agency double the rate, sometimes as much as £650 a day.

“We are at the mercy of the locums, we have gone from five doctors to three. A locum is a qualified doctor and can see patients, but you hand over a lot of money and they do not know the patients and also there’s no continuity of care,” he said. “In my opinion there’s increasing pressure on GPs, we get paid by hitting targets and that’s not conducive to a caring profession; there’s no incentive for doctors to continue working.”

He said part of the problem was that doctors were retiring earlier and then doing locum work to avoiding all the other responsibilities that go along with being a partner.

“In the last six months I know of two other practices in Blackburn which have had partners retire and struggled to replace them. There’s a constant pressure from the government to work seven days a week, it’s like a supermarket mentality,” he said.

Health watchdog Monitor this week highlighted the nationwide problem of GPs having to treat more patients with dwindling resources.

Russell McLean, of Pennine Lancashire Patient Voices Group, said: “It’s a national problem, because of the lack of nurses and doctors. What I don’t agree with are locum agencies charging extortionate fees.”

Yet despite challenges, the Monitor report says the majority of patients are satisfied with their GP practice.

NHS trusts in England spent £2bn last year on agency staff.