The number of job adverts for GP positions in England has nearly halved since 2022, newly published data suggests.
Releasing the data for the first time, NHS England found there were 503.7 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs posted on NHS Jobs last quarter.
This indicates a continued steady increase in listings since a low of 340.6 in Q2 2024/25, but still well below the 918.9 advertised in 2022/23 Q1 (the start of the dataset) – an overall 45.2% decrease.
The trend for all GP practice jobs (including non-GPs) is similar, going from 7534.1 to 4068.1 over the same period, or a 46% decrease.
Each English region experienced a decrease in GP job adverts over the whole period, with London seeing the largest decrease (59.9%) and the South West the smallest (23.4%).
And breaking down the increase in advertisements from Q2 2024/25, each region has seen an increase in job adverts barring the South East, with the Midlands (106.2%) seeing the largest increase.
Surrey GP partner Dr Dave Triska said the data is ‘best read as a confidence indicator’ of recruitment.
Dr Triska said: ‘Practices haven’t suddenly stopped needing GPs; they’ve stopped feeling able to commit to recruiting them. With ongoing uncertainty about funding, rising costs and repeated contract changes, many partnerships are understandably risk-averse — posts get frozen, backfilled with short-term cover, or converted into more precarious, fractional roles.
He also said it was important ‘not to misinterpret falling adverts as “vacancies solved”’.
‘Demand hasn’t fallen, complexity hasn’t fallen, and patients still need continuity. If anything, the October contract changes and wider access requirements increase workload flowing into practices at the same time as the staffing pipeline looks more fragile.
‘The net effect is a system that’s widening the front door while quietly shrinking the workforce behind it’, he said.
NHS Jobs is the official online recruitment service of the NHS in England and Wales and part of the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA). It advertises around 45,000 jobs each month.
FTE is the proportion of full-time contracted hours that the post holder is contracted to work – one FTE would indicate they work a full set of hours (37.5 hours a week), 0.5 that they worked half time.
The data comes as the Government last week offered to create four times as many specialty training posts as it originally proposed in the NHS 10 year health plan.
While it is not known how many of the extra places would be GP posts, statistics released in September revealed competition for GP specialty training posts has reached a record high, with roughly five doctors vying for each available place.
Pulse has extensively covered the GP unemployment and recruitment crisis. In January, Pulse’s publisher Cogora launched a major white paper into the GP workforce. The report found that a quarter of salaried GPs and locums are looking for a permanent role at the same time as practices are facing a shortfall in GP numbers.
In October, the RCGP wrote a joint letter to the health secretary – signed by more than 8,000 GPs –demanding ring-fenced funding for unemployed and underemployed GPs ‘at all career stages’ as part of the updated 10-year NHS workforce plan.
Pulse has contacted the Department of Health and Social Care to comment on the findings.
Comments (0)