One GP For Every 2,176 Patients. That's Who You'll See Instead.
Fresh BMA analysis shows each full-time GP in England is now responsible for 2,176 patients, the highest on record — and it's this stretched system that picks up the pieces when emergency care gets harder to reach.
Every time we talk about moving our children's A&E further away, someone asks a fair question: what happens to the families who don't go to A&E at all, but who feel the strain anyway? New figures from the British Medical Association, updated in the last month, give us the answer — and it isn't reassuring.
The numbers, straight from the BMA
As of July 2026, England has 29,057 full-time-equivalent GPs — 307 fewer than in September 2015, even though the population has grown. Each of those GPs is now responsible for an average of 2,176 patients, up 12.3% since 2015. Since 2015, 1,476 GP practices have closed or merged, leaving 6,147 still standing. In July alone, GPs and their teams delivered 33.9 million appointments — part of roughly 386 million booked over the past year, with only 44% of them actually seen by a GP rather than another member of the practice team.
This isn't a campaign estimate. It's the BMA's own analysis of NHS England's workforce and appointment statistics, updated at the end of August 2026.
Why this matters for Ormskirk
When a children's A&E moves eight miles further away, some families won't make that extra journey for a worry that feels borderline. They'll try to get a GP appointment instead, or call 111, or simply wait and hope. That's not a criticism of parents making a sensible-sounding choice — it's exactly how these systems are meant to work as a safety net. The problem is the net is already stretched thin. A GP list of 2,176 patients has far less slack to absorb extra demand than one closer to the 1,000-patient ratio GP leaders say is needed.
Not a hospital closing — a service moving, and the strain moving with it
To be precise, because precision protects credibility: Ormskirk Hospital is not closing. Its children's A&E is moving to Southport, 8 miles away, at a cost of £33 million. But moving a service doesn't remove the need for it. Somewhere has to absorb families who decide the shorter, more familiar option is a phone call to their GP or 111 rather than a longer drive to Southport. Based on the BMA's own figures, general practice has less room to absorb that than at any point since 2015.
What we're asking for
We're not against Southport Hospital, and we're not against GPs — many of whom are already working flat out for us. We're asking the Health Secretary to formally call in the decision to move Ormskirk's children's A&E before any work begins, so that the knock-on effects on GPs, 111 and the wider system in West Lancashire can be properly assessed rather than assumed away. Lancashire County Council's health scrutiny committee asked for exactly that review, unanimously, back in March. It's still waiting for a reply.
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