GP crisis in the UK: personal story highlights the struggle for proper diagnosis and care

A little over a year ago I could barely walk, was suffering agonising pain 24 hours a day and desperately waiting to have spinal surgery. Nuclear grade painkillers had no effect, neither did a pair of second-hand crutches bought from a charity shop for £2.

Like many other people I just had to grin and bear it. The problem was that I'd been grinning and bearing for almost two years, ever since the day I'd hobbled into my local GP surgery with severe lower back pain.

The cause - a football injury.

A day before, I, like many men in their mid-40s, had been tearing around a pitch trying to recreate my youth.

After a quick consultation my doctor - the head of practice - diagnosed me with a pelvic (SI) joint strain and packed me on my way with a prescription for some painkillers and an appointment for physiotherapy.

A quick check with "Dr Google" later that day confirmed, or so I thought, the real GP's diagnosis.

But in the ensuing 18 months the problem got a lot worse.

During this time three further visits to the same GP surgery (I was seen by a different doctor each time) came to the same conclusion - more pills and physio.

On one occasion I was asked by one of them: "what do you want me to do?"

An osteopath couldn't crack it, so to speak, either, despite hundreds of pounds spent in appointments.

Finally, after intense pressure and pleading I finally managed to persuade one of the GPs to refer me to an orthopedic specialist.

In a world where my mobility was rapidly diminishing, it felt like a big step forward.

Within minutes he knew what the problem was - Spondylolisthesis. A quick X-Ray confirmed that my lowest vertebrae had slipped forward, to my untrained eye, by a considerable amount.

Subsequent scans showed a nerve had been completely crushed, hence the excruciating pain, and two discs were damaged for good measure.

The reason I've broken a self-imposed rule of my 24-year journalistic career - to not write about myself - is to highlight a major GP crisis in the UK which is seemingly getting worse.

According to the British Medical Association, GP practices across the country are experiencing significant and growing strain with declining doctor numbers, rising demand and staff recruitment and retention struggles.

This has a major knock-on effect for patients.

In my own case, following a diagnosis by the consultant I was out of primary care and finally on the right path.

What followed was six months of more appointments, X-Rays, MRI and CT Scans, countless phone calls and emails.

All the while my pain and lack of mobility was worsening.

Ultimately, I was operated on by my incredible spinal surgeon Mr Ahmed Ibrahim and, coincidentally, by the world renowned surgeon David Knott, last August.

My five-day stay at London's Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith, which included two eight-hour operations, cannot be faulted.

I owe a huge thanks to the tireless efforts of all the staff - the cleaners, caterers, porters, nurses and doctors.

I am now pain free and mobile again. But I am lucky, despite the two year battle.

Many, many people, suffering from far worse debilitating conditions, have to fight for longer or do not get the treatment they need.

So why is there such a problem, why is the primary care system struggling so badly?

The NHS is clearly under immense strain and it is at grassroots level, the GPs in communities across the UK, where most people experience that firsthand.

A post-Covid legacy, in which people are more inclined to visit their GP, plus an ageing and rising population has accelerated demand for people wishing to see a doctor.

But the growth in the number of GPs has stagnated in the past decade.

As of July 2025, there were 38,960 individual fully qualified GPs employed in NHS general practices in England, according to NHS Digital General Practice Workforce statistics.

The overall number of GPs - including trainees - has seen little growth since 2015, while the number of GP partners has declined significantly during this time.

The BMA blames successive governments for failing to deliver on promised recruitment.

In July this year there were the equivalent of 1,086 fewer fully qualified full-time GPs than there were in September 2015.

Numbers have recently started to increase though with an increase of 616 in the last 12 months.

The GP partner workforce - where self-employed doctors co-own and run a general practice - has also been shrinking with the loss of 6,237 partners since 2015.

High workloads, administrative burdens and financial liabilities have been blamed for the fall.

At the same time, the number of practices is also plunging.

While many have entered into mergers, some practices have permanently closed.

As of July 2025, 1,424 practices have closed since 2015.

Whilst the GP workforce has been declining, the number of patients continues to increase.

In July 2025 another record-high of 63.82 million patients were registered with GP practices in England, an increase of 6.92 million since 2015.

As a result, the average number of patients each full-time equivalent GP is responsible for now stands at 2,257.

This is an increase of 319 patients per GP (16.5%) since 2015.

Appointment levels are also high with more than 32 million in July alone.

The government spends £188.5 billion on health and social care, with most of it going to NHS England for running costs.

Future planned spending is set to increase by 2.8% annually for the next three years, reaching an estimated £204.9 billion for 2024/25 and £246.7 billion by 2028/29.

Health spending is ringfenced.

But Chancellor Rachel Reeves is in a tight squeeze due to a flagging economy and huge borrowing costs.

There are mounting fears she is planning another tax raid in the Autumn Budget to dig the government out of a major black hole in its finances.

It was during last year's budget in which Ms Reeves clobbered GPs with her hated increases to employer National Insurance contributions.

The 1.2% increase was estimated to cost the average GP surgery in England approximately £20,000 per year, leaving many facing collapse.

Doctors at the annual representative meeting in Cardiff this summer warned that GP practices will continue to face collapse unless the Government takes steps to exempt them from the NI rises.

Meanwhile, patient concerns remain about day to day services.

A recent survey of 2,000 residents in Cornwall showed patients are struggling to book appointments, being misdiagnosed and turning to private healthcare over GP surgeries.

According to Healthwatch Cornwall a number of people reported feeling "excluded" by online-only booking systems, struggling to get through to their surgery on the phone and having to repeat their medical history at every appointment.

Others said they had been misdiagnosed, forced into preventable hospital appointments, and some even paid thousands for private care having been unable to get a timely NHS appointment.

One patient said it took five months to see a doctor and they ended up with stage 4 cancer.

Meanwhile, a recent report revealed health tourists have cost the NHS a quarter of a billion pounds in only three years.

The unpaid £252million would be enough to cover the salaries of 3,200 doctors or build 68 GP surgeries.

Some trusts are recovering just £40 of every £1,000 they are owed by overseas patients, despite Government pledges to crack down on freeloaders.

Writing the foreword for the report by the Policy Exchange think-tank, Sir Sajid Javid, a former Conservative health secretary and chancellor, said failing to recover these fees is "corroding confidence" in the system.

Campaigners say the NHS has long been open to abuse and is seen as the "International Health Service".

Overseas visitors are able to access some NHS services for free - including seeing a GP or A&E care - but can be asked to pay for other services.

As we hurtle towards another Winter, concerns over GP services will only intensify.