The scale of the challenge facing Bolton’s “tireless” GPs has been revealed by figures showing that there are more than 2,000 patients for every doctor.

(Scroll down to see the figures for your GP surgery)

NHS figures show that, when adjusted to the equivalent of working full time, local doctors care for an average of 2,061 people each, with the equivalent of just 49 full time GPs for every 100,000 patients across Bolton.

This is in line with a national recruitment crisis that has seen doctors on the frontline confront increased workloads across England.

Responding to the findings, Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi said: "The pandemic has placed a huge amount of pressure onto our health service, especially on our GPs."

She added: "The government must provide more funding to our faltering healthcare system and the Spring Statement was a great opportunity to do so, an opportunity the Government and the Chancellor failed to take.

“I fear that without proper intervention we will simply lurch from one healthcare crisis in the pandemic, to another, in general practice."

These figures were borne out in Ms Qureshi’s constituency, with Bradford Street Surgery in The Haugh having just one GP to care for 2,089 registered patients, while Bolton General Practice in the town centre had just four doctors caring for 5,936 people.

The Bolton News:

(Source: NHS England Data. Figure refers to total headcount of GPs rather than adjusted for full time equivalent)

In the west, 13 GPs, excluding GPs in training grade, look after 20,489 patients at the Unsworth Group Practice in Westhoughton with six caring for 15,709 patients at Horwich’s Kildonan House.

Bolton West MP Chris Green said: “Bolton has had long term under provision of GP services and this is something that I have raised in parliament and that I will continue to raise in future.”

But despite this, Bolton’s GPs have ensured that the number of sessions has not fallen.

NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group chief officer Su Long said: “Practices are working tirelessly to deal with a large increase in the number of patients who are contacting them by phone and online.”

She added: “There are also well-publicised national difficulties in recruiting new GPs.”

“We are supporting our practices in a number of ways.

“For example, we have increased the number of phone lines in practices and we have a number of programmes to attract more GPs to Bolton.”

Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said some regions are affected worse than others as they face greater difficulties recruiting new GPs.

GP-patient ratios are highest in London (1,998 per GP on average) and lowest in the North West (1,601).

Professor Marshall said: "GPs want to be able to consistently give their patients the care they deserve, no matter where they live.

"But the increased workload expected of GPs and their teams while their numbers fail to increase at the necessary pace, is unsustainable."

Along with the hiring of more GPs, he said plans are also needed to keep experienced GPs in the workforce for longer.

The Department of Health and Social Care said there were over 1,600 more full time doctors in December 2021 than two years previously, with a record-breaking number starting training last year.

A spokesperson said: “We have invested £520million to improve access and expand GP capacity during the pandemic."