PATIENTS across England are currently facing a ‘postcode lottery’ over seeing GP – and people across Oxfordshire are said to be benefitting.

New analysis, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, showed that on average there is one GP per 2,038 across the country – a 5 per cent rise since 2015.

Oxfordshire, however, is faring better than most of the country, having the second-lowest number of inhabitants per GP.

Across the county, on average, there are 1,688 per GP – the only area with a slightly lower ratio is Liverpool, which has 1,614 inhabitants per GP.

The data shows huge disparities between counties like Oxfordshire, and other areas of the country, such as Hull which has one GP for every 2,821 people.

The figures, which are based on research by the House of Commons Library, have led the Lib Dems to call on the Government to train more GPs.

Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Munira Wilson MP said: “These figures reveal a postcode lottery of care that is leaving people struggling to get GP appointments or waiting weeks to be seen.

“But instead of fixing the GP shortage crisis, the Conservatives are making it worse by failing to train the new doctors we desperately need.”

The stats do not include trainee GPs, and are based on the population in each area rather than the number of registered patients.

Recent analysis from the BMA shows there are over 1,800 fewer fully qualified, full-time equivalent (FTE) GPs now than there were in 2015.

Between June 2020 and July 2021, the number of GP partners fell by 918.

Jacquie Pearce-Gervis, founder of Oxford’s Patient Voice group, however, said that ‘further clarification is needed on how these statistics are arrived at’.

Mrs Pearce-Gervis said that the transient student population across the county also needs to be considered as many students in the area may still be registered in their hometowns rather than in Oxford.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The number of full-time GPs increased between March 2016 and March 2021 and, last year, a record-breaking number of doctors started training as GPs.

“We are grateful for the tireless efforts of GPs throughout the pandemic and have invested £270 million to expand GP capacity, on top of £1.5 billion until 2023/24.

“We are committed to increasing the number of training places available for GPs to 4,000 a year and creating an extra 50 million appointments annually to improve patient access.”