More than a tenth of the GP workforce in England is aged over 60, analysis by GPonline has revealed.
General practice is relying more heavily than ever on end-of-career doctors, who make up 10.1% of the fully-qualified FTE workforce.
Figures show that this cohort has swelled compared with 2015 (earliest available data), when just 7.8% of the workforce was over 60.
The same effect has been observed for GPs over 55, whose numbers have grown nearly three percentage points during the same period.
Pressure on GPs from tax and pensions has created a potential cliff-edge for an already burned-out profession.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “A 25% increase in the number of GPs over a seven-year period would be such an amazing headline were this to be about GPs at the beginning of their career. But we’re actually seeing this growth in the cohort preparing to retire from general practice.
“As an organisation, we’re here to welcome any GPs leaving partnerships to help support them in a new GP locum career, and we call upon our profession to take a more proactive role in supporting GPs in any role that they find themselves in.”