Recruitment of doctors in the Blackburn area “continues to be a challenge” the organisation in charge of general practice has said.

Blackburn with Darwen was recently found to be among the worst areas in the country for the number of patients per general practitioner.

Analysis by the BBC found there were 3,218 patients per GP in the borough, the third-worst rate in the country behind Thurrock and Leicester.

Peter Tinson, director of primary and community commissioning at the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, said the recruitment of more GPs was a “key priority” across the region.

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He said: “While there is no contractual requirement for practices to have a specified headcount per 1,000 patients, recruiting and retaining GPs within Lancashire and South Cumbria continues to be a challenge and a key priority for the ICB.

“An additional 100 full-time equivalent additional direct patient care roles have been recruited since 2019 to work in Blackburn with Darwen, and additional funding has been announced to support the inclusion of recently-qualified GPs in the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. 

“From the start of October, each Primary Care Network (PCN) nationally has been allocated a share of an additional £82 million within this financial year to recruit newly qualified GPs. 

"Blackburn with Darwen PCN's share of this funding is an increase of £247,000 and will be utilised to appoint GPs.”

The analysis, which looked at NHS data, found the average GP in England has to care for 17 per cent more patients than they did nine years ago, meaning for every permanent GP there are more than 2,300 patients, up by nearly 350 since 2015.

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It also found satisfaction rates with GP services have plummeted to their lowest level on record, with one in six patients waiting more than two weeks for an appointment.

The government has promised to further boost the number of GPs in training while tasking pharmacists to do more to treat minor health problems to ease pressure on GPs, having already taken greater responsibility in dealing with problems such as sore throats and shingles.

Since July 2022 NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) has held responsibility for planning NHS services, including primary care, community pharmacy and those previously planned by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).