General Practitioners
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion GPs were not in General Practice in England one year after receipt of their Certificate of Completion of Training in each of the most recent five years for which data are available.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock
Thanks to actions taken by the Government, we have the highest number of fully qualified general practitioners (GPs) since 2015, at 30,038 full time equivalent in February 2026. Leaver rates also remain low by historical standards, at 7.5% in December 2024 to December 2025.
The following table shows the total and proportion of Specialty Trainee Year 3 (ST3) GPs not seen in the National Workforce Reporting Service (NWRS) within one year of the last appearance in the ST3 role, from March 2020 to December 2024:
Quarter last seen in ST3 role (year/month) | Total ST3 GPs not yet seen in NWRS within one year of last appearance in ST3 role | Proportion of ST3 GPs not seen in NWRS within one year of last appearance in ST3 role |
2020/03 | 84 | 44% |
2020/06 | 621 | 44% |
2020/09 | 187 | 50% |
2020/12 | 278 | 53% |
2021/03 | 166 | 55% |
2021/06 | 796 | 51% |
2021/09 | 264 | 63% |
2021/12 | 292 | 54% |
2022/03 | 182 | 58% |
2022/06 | 762 | 52% |
2022/09 | 246 | 60% |
2022/12 | 310 | 52% |
2023/03 | 215 | 56% |
2023/06 | 740 | 46% |
2023/09 | 270 | 51% |
2023/12 | 298 | 44% |
2024/03 | 216 | 53% |
2024/06 | 681 | 38% |
2024/09 | 262 | 40% |
2024/12 | 331 | 43% |
Notes:
- the quarter in which a GP was last seen in an ST3 role is an approximation for the date on which they qualified. This means that the figures will include some doctors who have not entered the qualified GP workforce as they discontinued their GP training in ST3, or have taken a leave of absence at ST3 level, for example for maternity/paternity leave or because they have failed their exams and do not qualify; and
- fully qualified GPs in NWRS data are GP Partners, Salaried GPs, GP Regular Locums, and GP Retainers. Ad-hoc locums, locum or sessional GPs who typically work briefly at practices to cover for short-term or unexpected absences, are not included since information about them is captured in a different way to the rest of the workforce.
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