GPs' leaders have urged the government to approve a massive increase in medical student numbers to help avert a 'crisis' in family doctor services.

John Chisholm, chair of the British Medical Association's general medical services committee, told a conference last week that the government needed to implement the recommendations of the Medical Workforce Standing Advisory Committee, chaired by Sir Colin Campbell.

It called for the annual medical school intake to be increased by 'about 1,000 as soon as possible', at a cost of about£200m a year.

Dr Chisholm said recruitment and retention was 'worse than at any time since the 1960s'.

Speakers predicted the problem would get worse as 'low morale' forced more GPs to retire early, more women with family commitments became GPs and 3,000 overseas doctors who joined the NHS in the 1970s came to the end of their careers.

Dr Chisholm said that trainee doctors must be persuaded to take up general practice.

'In the 1970s, the brightest and best wanted to be GPs. Now, most young doctors want to remain in hospital careers, ' he said.

Speakers also argued for better training, better pay and more flexible career structures.

Graham Winyard, medical director of the NHS Executive, acknowledged there were problems, but said he was confident work patterns could be devised to accommodate older GPs and women doctors.

He said the Specialty Workforce Advisory Group was looking at why general practice had difficulty attracting trainee doctors, and argued that white paper reforms would encourage local workforce planning.

GMSC deputy chair Judy Gilley agreed that primary care groups would offer opportunities to doctors to pool resources, share heavy workloads and employ regular locums. But she expressed concern about a new formula being developed to ensure an 'equitable' distribution of GPs across the country.

A working group involving representatives from the Department of Health, Medical Practices Committee and advisory committee on resource allocation started looking at the issue after the roll out of Primary Care Act pilot schemes last year.

Dr Gilley said the GMSC was concerned that the MPC had no say in the establishment of the pilots, but had to take their staff into account when other local GP principals applied to employ or replace staff.

She argued this could leave some places short of GPs if their overall area was judged to be 'over-doctored'.

The GMSC is also concerned that cash-limiting of family doctor services could be introduced if 'arbitrary' numbers of GPs are set for particular health authority areas.

The working group is supposed to report by the end of June.