A wide-ranging survey by the The University of Exeter has found that two in five GPs intend to quit within the next five years while seven out of ten intend move towards less contact with patients.

More than 2,000 GPs responded to the survey, and research leader Professor John Campbell, of the University of Exeter Medical School, has called for a move away from “sticking plaster solutions for the NHS”

Professor Campbell, a practising GP, said: “We carried out this survey because of a nationally recognised crisis in the shortage of GPs across the country, and our findings show an even bleaker outlook than expected for GP cover, even in an area which is often considered desirable, and which has many rural communities. If GPs have similar intentions to leave or reduce their hours in other regions, as many are reporting, the country needs to take robust action more swiftly and urgently than previously thought.”

Over the past four years, a crisis has been developing around the national GP workforce. The number of unfilled GP posts quadrupled between 2012 and 2014, while the numbers of GPs fell substantially. The national situation has prompted political action, with the Government announcing measures to train 5,000 new GPs in 2015, and to increase the proportion of medical students who choose general practice as a career.

The research, which received responses from 2,248 of the 3,370 GPs surveyed, found that 54 per cent of GPs reported low morale, and they were particularly likely to indicate that they intended to leave the profession.

Professor Campbell said: “We know that there’s an ageing workforce in general practice, with 30 per cent of GPs being over 50 years old. Previous research has found that GP morale is low because of workload pressures, and many younger GPs do not want the financial risk and responsibilities of taking on a practice. Yet if the GPs we surveyed fulfil their intentions to leave or to cut back their patient contact, and no action is taken to address the issue, the South West will experience a severe shortfall of GPs in the next five years.”

“GPs and their teams deliver nine out of every ten patient contacts with the NHS but attract just seven pence in every pound of NHS resource; that is unsustainable. The government needs to work with the Royal College of General Practitioners, the British Medical Association, and Universities to obtain evidence on the causes of the problem, to develop and implement relevant strategy, and to effect fundamental change in healthcare resourcing and planning nationwide.”

Liberal Democrat shadow health secretary Norman Lamb, said of the report: “The government’s handling of the current NHS crisis is shameful, not only is it failing to bring in new doctors, it is losing the ones it has got. It is clear that part of the reason hard working staff are leaving is because of a loss of confidence in the government's stewardship of the NHS.

“The government is failing to give the NHS the long term funding it needs. Theresa May’s push for a hard Brexit and continued failure to guarantee the future of EU citizens in the UK is only going to put the NHS under even more pressure.”

The Conservative MP for Truro and Falmouth, Sarah Newton, said that the survey had been carried out "before we launched our plan to improve conditions in general practice."

She said: "It doesn’t take into account our steps to improve morale and retention by investing £2.4 billion more into primary care, making extra payments to GPs, and cutting red tape while increasing flexible working.

"To ease future workforce pressures, we are also now training the highest number of GPs since records began."