FAQ: How many GP locums work in the UK?
How many GP locums work in the UK? No one seems to know how many GP locums there are in the UK. All data pertaining to the number of GPs in the UK states “excluding locums”.
As we wrote in a recent news story, salaried GP numbers in England now surpass GP locum numbers. In 2015, the salaried GP workforce was just 70% of the size of the GP locum workforce; in 2024, it was 104%.
Using the GMC’s methodology of estimating the number of GP locums (by subtracting the number of salaried GPs and partners from the GMC’s register of practising GPs), the number of GP locums fell from 21,091 in 2023 to 17,836 in 2024 – an estimated fall of 3,255 in a single year.
These new figures have emerged at a time when GPs face a double workforce crisis: GP partners struggle to fund the GP vacancies they need, and sessional GPs struggle to find both salaried and locum roles.
At the time, 28% of all GPs worked outside a managed organisation.
This raised many questions, including:
- How does the profession represent these GPs?
- Will this have an effect on the resources allocated for revalidation?
- Assuming the Department of Health does not know about these GPs, then how can it make plans for future manpower resources and training?
- If 28% of all GPs practise outwith traditional salaried posts or partnerships, what is the profession and Department of Health doing to engage these 17,000 GPs into the clinical governance systems of the
NHS?
The Government and profession needs to ensure that its resources are allocated equitably, and reassurance given to patients that the quality and professional welfare of its GP locums is not being ignored.
"Thank you for the service you have provided while I have been a member over the last few years. I have found the website and sessional magazine very helpful during my time as a locum."
Dr Rachael Scott, GP
