Rural GP vacancies increase despite improving recruitment

Vacancy rates for GPs in rural areas of England and Wales have increased despite improving rates of recruitment of GPs overall, figures released by the NHS information centre for health and social care reveal. In 2005, the vacancy rate for rural GPs made up 1.1 per cent of the GP workforce. This has increased to 1.6 per cent in 2006. However, vacancies for urban areas have dropped from 4.2 per cent in 2005 to 0.9 per cent and there are reductions in rates for GPs in areas for both high and low levels of need.