General Practice (GP) healthcare in the UK operates in a unique context. While GP practices are independent businesses, most are publicly funded through NHS contracts.
Over the past two decades, rising healthcare costs and political pressure to reduce NHS budgets have put GPs in a difficult position. As spending has shifted to hospitals, the share for GP surgeries has steadily declined, hitting an eight-year low in 2024. Meanwhile, the number of GPs and partners running surgeries has stagnated or fallen, while the demand for appointments continues to grow.
This combination of financial pressures, stagnant budgets, and practitioner shortages poses a serious challenge, especially with an ageing population and rising chronic illness rates. Despite this, GPs remain crucial to UK healthcare, with some analysts warning that their decline threatens the entire NHS.
This guide provides a financial overview of the GP sector in 2024, including how it got here, the current situation, and future outlook, using data from IBISWorld, as well as our own data gathered from our extensive work providing accountancy and financial services to GP partnerships.
