NHS England data compiled from NHS Digital practice-level statistics shows that 480 GP practices across England have permanently closed since January 2019, with a further 140 having merged with larger practices in ways that resulted in at least one physical surgery site being lost. The combined effect has removed GP access from communities representing an estimated registered population of 3.4 million patients.
Analysis of the closures by geography, conducted by Exposed News using NHS Digital postcode data and ONS rural-urban classification, shows that rural and coastal communities have been disproportionately affected. Of the 480 closures, 61% occurred in areas classified as rural or rural-coastal. In 34 cases, the closure left communities with no GP practice within 10 miles by road.
The Downstream Effect on A&E
Internal NHS data from six Integrated Care Boards covering areas with high GP closure rates, obtained through FOI requests, shows a statistically significant association between practice closures and emergency department attendances for conditions classified as “primary care sensitive” — conditions that should be manageable in general practice without emergency intervention. In the three years following a practice closure, emergency attendance rates for primary care sensitive conditions in the affected area rose on average by 23%.
The finding is consistent with research published in the British Medical Journal in 2025, which found that GP access constraints were a “material contributor” to avoidable emergency department attendance in deprived areas. The BMJ study, which covered 2015 to 2023, preceded the most recent wave of closures.
Workforce the Core Problem
NHS England data shows the number of fully qualified GPs per 1,000 registered patients fell to 0.47 in September 2026, down from 0.61 in 2015. The GP workforce plan published in 2023 projected a return to 0.55 GPs per 1,000 patients by 2028; revised projections published in June 2026 pushed that target to 2032.
The British Medical Association’s GP committee chair told Exposed News: “We are in a managed decline of general practice. The government knows the numbers. The question is whether there is political will to fund the solution before primary care becomes inaccessible for large parts of the country.”