Oldham has the fourth highest number of patients per fully qualified GP in England, according to according to research by the House of Commons Library.

The Liberal Democrats, who commissioned the research, warned of a “stark postcode lottery” across the country, with some areas affected much worse than others.

Across England, there are now an average of 2,273 patients per fully qualified GP – up from 1,981 in 2016, an increase of 15 per cent.

In Oldham, there were 2,774 patients per fully qualified GP.

This meant Oldham was lower than just three other areas: Hull (2,805), Portsmouth (2,821), and Blackburn with Darwen (2,915).

Compared to 2016, Oldham had the seventh highest proportional increase in England, figures up by 28 per cent from 2,171 patients per GP in 2016.Liverpool had the lowest number of patients per GP, at 1,777 – a difference of nearly 1,000 compared to Oldham.

Oldham also had the tenth-highest proportional decrease in fully qualified GPs, down to 95 from 116 (18 per cent).

This was compared to a 7 per cent decrease in England, where the number of fully qualified GPs fell from 29,320 to 27,375.

A spokesperson for NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care said: “Medical practices in Oldham are responsible for the General Practitioners they recruit and how many. Over time, the number of GPs working in practices, and therefore patients allocated per GP, can change due to a variety of reasons including but not limited to – career breaks and changes, retirement, new doctors entering the profession and the ability to fill GP training places.

“NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care continues to work with practices in Oldham and the rest of Greater Manchester to address issues faced by both GPs and aspiring GPs – to ensure General Practice continues to be an attractive career choice.

“In recent years, the number of GP training practices in Oldham has increased and more placements are available for doctors as they complete the training to become GPs. Support is also provided for those newly qualified as they begin their careers – setting up a peer network to help ease the transition from trainee to fully qualified GP.

“We have also worked to broaden the clinical workforce in General Practice, helping to ensure that patients see the right person in the right place in the first instance. Ensuring there is a nurse, pharmacist or healthcare support worker etc, for instances when seeing a GP isn’t appropriate – the practices themselves deciding the blend of staff which they think will best meet the needs of their patients”.

Lib Dem health and social care spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: “Communities across the country are seeing ever falling numbers of GPs treating ever growing numbers of patients, in a stark postcode lottery.

“It is creating a perfect storm that means for many people, it feels almost impossible to see your GP when you need to.

“This ever-worsening GP shortage is having a terrible human cost, as people face delayed or missed diagnoses and A&Es fill up with desperate patients looking for treatment.

“People are fed up with this government failing to deliver on the basics as local health services are driven into the ground.

“The Liberal Democrats would finally recruit the extra GPs this country needs, in order to deliver a guarantee that everyone can get a GP appointment within a week or within 24 hours if in urgent need.”