Clinical Chair of NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, Dr Andy Seymour said:

“Gloucestershire has continued to see a rise in the number of GPs working in the county in recent years, in part due to the huge efforts being made to make the area an attractive place to work. The CCG and local practices have led the way in initiatives to support GPs to work flexibly, to attract newly qualified GPs and to give GPs opportunities to gain specialist knowledge and expertise working with local populations. We have also run a successful recruitment campaign with the BMJ.

We fully recognise the growing pressure on GPs and practices and through the developing Primary Care Networks, GP Practices are working together in local communities to make services more resilient. Increasingly we are seeing clinical pharmacists, physiotherapists, mental health workers and paramedics working in, and with, GP practices to offer expert support to patients and to free up GP time and an extra 100,000 GP surgery appointments are being made available this year in the day time, evening and weekends.”