PATIENTS face a postcode lottery in seeing their GP, MPs warn.
Family doctor numbers fell nearly 3,000 while patient lists jumped from 58 million to 62 million between 2016-22.
The worst-hit area is Blackburn with Darwen, Lancs — where GPs have fallen from 74 to 63, and patients are up to 182,406.
It now has 2,915 registered patients per fully qualified GP, up from 2,332 in 2016.
A similar pattern can be seen across other areas of the country, with 2,821 patients per GP in Portsmouth, 2,805 patients per doctor in Hull, and 2,805 per practitioner in Oldham.
Daisy Cooper, for the Lib Dems who carried out the research, plus Labour’s Wes Streeting said patients were finding it impossible to get an appointment.
Ms Cooper said: “Communities across the country are seeing ever falling numbers of GPs treating ever growing numbers of patients, in a stark postcode lottery.”
The Department of Health said it and NHS England were boosting recruitment.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said the research “shows yet again how GPs and our teams are working above and beyond to deliver care”.
Medics are struggling with “an ever-growing patient population, with falling numbers of fully qualified, full-time equivalent GPs”, she said.
