A CHRONIC shortage of trainee GPs in the North-East means Government plans to introduce seven-day opening for doctors' surgeries are "undeliverable", the medics' union has warned.

Patients have been told they will find it increasingly difficult to see their GP after alarming new figures revealed almost half of all trainee GP posts in the region were empty.

Senior doctors said the shortage would have a dramatic impact on the North-East NHS with high-quality services at risk and hospital accident and emergency units being placed under further strain.

Figures highlighted this week by the British Medical Association (BMA) showed that only 99 of the 193 trainee GP posts in the North-East were filled - the worst rate in the country.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA GP committee chair, said the figures laid bare the huge scale of the crisis facing GP services and patient care.

"More than 600 GP trainee places are unfilled across the country with deeply concerning shortages in the Midlands and the North of England, especially the North-East where half of these posts are empty.

“The failure to recruit new GPs is happening at the same time as a third of existing GPs are intending to retire in the next five years. GP practices are rapidly facing a situation where they do not have either new or experienced GPs to deliver enough appointments to patients and maintain high-quality services."

Dr Clive Peedell, a cancer specialist at the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, and a founder of the National Health Action Party, said the Government's GP recruitment plans were "too little, too late".

"The particularly poor uptake of training places - 50 per cent vacancy rate - in the North-East will have dramatic effects on local GP services in the next few years.

"The system is already under great strain and North-East patients are going to find it increasingly difficult to see their GPs."

Dr Peedell said this would have knock on effects for the region's A&E departments, adding: "Cuts to social care budgets and £22bn of NHS efficiency savings are going to create a perfect storm for our healthcare system."

A spokesman for Health Education England said: "Since its establishment in 2013, HEE has invested more in GP training by increasing the number of posts available. We spend nearly £500 million a year on GP training. We will be providing 5,000 more doctors in general practice by 2020 and we are working with partners on a range of initiatives to support this.

"We held a third round of recruitment last year, helping us to fill more posts, and it makes sense to do this again to help increase the numbers of doctors in general practice and further improve services for patients. Once we have completed third round of recruitment we will be publishing the GP fill rate."

The concerns about GP recruitment come as a BMA report on the Government's first 100 days in office criticised ministers for focussing on rhetoric at the expense of detail.