An exodus of GPs leaving to work abroad or take early retirement means surgeries across England are in crisis , experts warned last night . The number of family doctors applying to work in Australia , Canada and other countries where they can earn more for fewer hours has jumped by 40 per cent in just five years . And around 22,400 GPs – more than half of England ’ s 40,200 family doctors – want to retire before the usual age of 60 , separate figures show . Lured away : Online ads promises British doctors ‘ more money ’ and ‘ great earning potential ’ if they leave Britain for Australia ( file image ) Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt described the situation as worrying and promised to make ‘ important changes ’ to the NHS to ease the pressure on GPs . Some surgeries in Cumbria are so desperate for staff they are paying locum GPs £850 a day to stand in , a new BBC Inside Out documentary has discovered . It follows the Mail ’ s revelation last week how one practice , in Swinton , South Yorkshire , was making patients wait four weeks for an appointment . Krishna Kasaraneni , a GP at the Crown Street Surgery , told Inside Out that three of its doctors had moved to Australia and Canada since last summer due to ‘ unsustainable daily pressure ’ . The programme , being broadcast tonight , also obtained figures from the General Medical Council that revealed 792 GPs were given ‘ Certificates of Good Standing ’ last year to allow them to practise abroad . This compares to 576 in 2008 and 562 in 2009 . Crisis : Some surgeries in Cumbria are so desperate for staff they are paying locum GPs £850 a day to stand in , a new BBC Inside Out documentary has discovered ( file photo ) The NHS is currently advertising in medical magazines in Australia to try to lure back British doctors , promising a ‘ fully funded induction and returner scheme ’ . On top of the exodus to foreign climes , 56 per cent of GPs ‘ definitely ’ or ‘ probably ’ expect to leave the profession before their 60th birthday , according to a survey of 1,004 family doctors carried out by Inside Out . Dr David Jones , 46 , who formerly practised in Manchester , moved to Perth , Western Australia , over a year ago . He said : ‘ We arrived in November 2013 . It ’ s wonderful here . We do 45 hours a week and weekends are off to enjoy the sunshine . I ’ m very , very proud of what my colleagues at home do . They do an incredibly difficult job . They get assaulted from all sides . ‘ I do feel guilty to some extent . When a government invests so much money in a profession you are a national asset to that country . But the way that asset is being treated in that country , it ’ s just pushing people away . It ’ s reached a point where people are just saying no , I ’ m not doing this any more . ‘ We shouldn ’ t be here . Had our profession been looked after as it should have been we wouldn ’ t think about leaving. ’ The website GP Jobs in Australia promises British doctors ‘ more money ’ and ‘ great earning potential ’ . It adds : ‘ Typical earnings start from £145,000 and rise to £195,000 per annum after a few years ’ experience. ’ But it says doctors working in rural locations can earn ‘ considerably more ’ , adding : ‘ Compared to the NHS , there ’ s less hassle , less bureaucracy , more medicine and money. ’ Younger doctors are not plugging the gaps , with up to one in eight GP training posts unfilled . They are instead choosing the more attractive career paths as hospital specialists or surgeons . The situation has become so dire that 1,063 GPs are needed just to return to the patient-to-doctor ratio of 2009 , according to separate figures released by the House of Commons Library . Under the previous Labour government , GPs benefited hugely by a new contract that saw average salaries soar to £105,000 a year and enabled GPs to opt out of evening and weekend work . But many doctors now say they are dismayed by the volume of paperwork , the demands of the ageing population and the insufficient funds given to surgeries by the Government . Mr Hunt said yesterday : ‘ What I hope GPs recognise is the things they ’ ve said to us are worrying them are being addressed . 'They said they didn ’ t like the targets they have , what are called the QOF targets , and we ’ ve reduced those by 40 per cent . ‘ They said they needed more money to invest in their premises and we put in this extra money in the Autumn Statement . ‘ These things don ’ t happen overnight so I would urge people to bear with us while we make these really important changes . Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said : ‘ David Cameron promised to put GPs at the heart of the NHS – but instead caused a new GP recruitment crisis . It is getting harder and harder to get a GP appointment as a result . ’
Online ads promises British GPs more money for fewer hours in Australia . Number of doctors applying to work abroad has jumped by 40 per cent . More than half of England ’ s family doctors want to retire before 60 .