MORE than half of the region's GP practices say patient care is deteriorating as general practice is "running on empty", a survey by the British Medical Association (BMA) reveals.

Just over 52 per cent of practices in the North-East, and 50 per cent in Yorkshire, say the quality of service delivered to patients had gone downhill in the last twelve months.

And in the North-East 45 per cent said their workload was unmanageable a lot of the time, while in Yorkshire that figure was 51 per cent.

Demand for appointments is increasing all the time, with 86 per cent in the North-East and 88 per cent in Yorkshire saying it had risen.

Across the country the figure was the same, with half of practices reporting that patient care was deteriorating as GP services buckled under increasing workload. The BMA surveyed almost 2,900 practices in England about their current workload - just over a third of all GP surgeries.

Dr John Canning, a Middlesbrough GP and BMA GP representative for the North-East, said: “These figures clearly show that general practice across the North-East is struggling, with the majority of GP practices registering a deterioration in the quality of care being delivered to patients.

“This is clearly the result of rising workload, including increasing patient demand for appointments which is placing unsustainable pressure on GP services that have been starved of resources and staff.

"Across England, there were more than 600 GP Trainee positions left unfilled in 2015, while a third of the workforce are considering retirement in the next five years.

"This comes at a time when GP practices across the country are seeing 150,000 more patients each day than in 2010, but have seen no extra resources to maintain effective, safe care to the public.

"With an ageing population, this pressure is only likely to increase in the years to come.

“Politicians have to realise that general practice is currently running on empty. GPs desperately want to provide the best possible service for patients: but we need improved resources and support to provide patients with the care they deserve.”

Meanwhile, the Government's pledge to increase GP numbers by 5,000 by 2020 have been dealt a blow after figures showed applications for GP training are down by five per cent.

Dr Maureen Baker, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said: "Across the country, GPs and our teams will make in excess of 370 million patient consultations this year - 60m more than five years ago - yet our workforce has remained relatively stagnant.

"We simply don't have the capacity to deal with this relentless demand, and research has shown that this is more pronounced in some areas than others."