GP services in Wiltshire are in crisis and in danger of falling apart unless patients accept they may not always be able to see a doctor, warns GP Richard Sandford-Hill.

Dr Sandford-Hill, who is the GP chairman for Devizes, West Wiltshire and Yatton Keynell on Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said that doctors are working an average of 12 hours a day and many are suffering extreme levels of stress.

He said that in the past recruiting GPs for Wiltshire had been easy but now it is often proving impossible to find doctors to take up vacancies. He warned that with fewer newly qualified doctors choosing to go into general practice and more experienced GPs taking early retirement the situation was dire.

He said: "We need to make it clear this is a real crisis and if we are to save our GP practices people need to realise there has to be a change in expectations. The service is in danger of falling over the cliff.

"It will not always be possible to see a GP and in many cases it is not necessary."

He said that across 55 GP practices in Wiltshire there were currently 17 vacancies and the situation was even worse in Swindon. He said that two practices in Wiltshire had been refused permission by Wiltshire CCG to close their lists and another had wanted to hand back the keys to its surgery but had been persuaded to stay open.

He said: "There is a crisis but this is not about funding. The money is there to pay for the GPs we just can't recruit them so we have to try and find a better way of using our resources."

Dr Sandford-Hill a partner at Market Lavington surgery said one way of saving GP time that was already operating in the Devizes area was to use emergency care practitioners such as Katie Bristow.

Ms Bristow covers five GP practices in the Devizes area, and makes home visits mainly to elderly patients.

Dr Sandford-Hill said: "A lot of our patients are the over 75s and it is much better for them to see Katie in their own homes. She isn't able to prescribe but if someone needs antibiotics or something similar she can bring the request back to the surgery and a doctor can write it out and send it off."

He also pointed out that many people could be helped by the NHS 111 service which for Wiltshire patients was manned by trained call handlers that did not just read scripts to patients.

He also advised that for people who regularly suffer common conditions such as hay fever a pharmacist could be the answer.

He said: "We are not saying that people shouldn't ring their GP surgery but they should not be worried if they are directed to someone other than a doctor. Nurses, therapists and support workers can often be the answer.

Wiltshire CCG has produced a leaflet explaining how people can help take the strain off the overloaded GP service. It says: "People often go straight to hospital or a GP. But more times than not, that not the sort of treatment needed."

Self-care for minor illnesses such as cough and sore throats it says can be treated with over the counter medicines.

Wiltshire is not alone with suffering a GP crisis. A study by the University of Oxford shows that nationally the clinical workload has risen by 16 per cent.

Co-author Professor Chris Salisbury, a GP and head of the University of Bristol's Centre for Academic Primary Care, said: "Because consultations are both happening more often and taking longer, the combined effect is that overall workload of doctors and nurses in general practice has increased by 16 per cent over the seven years, while time spent by GPs with patients has increased by 18per cent.

"This increased workload for GPs is equivalent to almost an extra working day each week. These findings may explain why people are finding it increasingly difficult to get an appointment."

Public meetings are to be held to inform people of the need for change

Tuesday 25th October 6.30pm – Warminster Civic Centre

Thursday 27th October 6.30pm – Devizes Bowls Club

Thursday 1st November 6.30pm – Melksham United Church