DOCTOR surgeries across Southend and Shoebury have thousands of patients allocated to one GP, figures have revealed.

New NHS data has revealed North Shoebury Surgery with 3,658 patients per full-time GP is the most oversubscribed across the whole borough.

It is closely followed by The Shaftesbury Avenue Surgery, Southend with 3,444 and The Practice Northumberland Avenue, Southend which has 3,336 patients per one full time doctor.

The British Medical Association said large disparities in GP to patient ratios throughout England are "wholly unacceptable" and called on the Government to address the longstanding issues.

NHS Digital figures show 190,413 patients were registered at GP practices in the NHS Southend CCG area at the end of January – along with the equivalent of 101 full-time GPs.

Data also reveals the Southend practices with the lowest number of patients per GP are Dr Navin Kumar with 1,406 patients, Dr Krishnan and Partner - Kent Elms Health Centre which has 1,425 and The Pall Mall Surgery with 1,475 patients on the books.

Medical experts say if the patients were equally spread, each GP would be dealing with an average of 1,879 patients – but the figures vary drastically across the 25 practices which were recorded as having patients.

Patient ratios vary widely across England, from 41,000 patients per GP at a practice in Coventry and Warwickshire, to just 96 at a Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin surgery.

Dr Kieran Sharrock, BMA England GP committee deputy chairman, said: “This data shows worryingly large disparities in GP to patient ratios across the country and it is wholly unacceptable that patients should have to experience such variations in access to care.

“The Government has failed to address the longstanding recruitment and retention issues in general practice and we now have a very unsustainable and unsafe situation where fewer GPs are being tasked with the responsibility of caring for significantly more patients."

Dr Sharrock said the Government has not paid enough attention to the primary care backlog and should provide "urgent and substantial support" to enable high quality care.

The Royal College of GPs said that between September 2015 and December 2021 the number of patients per GP increased by 10 per cent, the number of fully qualified, full-time equivalent GPs fell by five per cent and the population grew by four per cent.