How many patients are registered with a GP in England?

About 63,766,671 patients were registered with a GP practice in England in the QOF 2024-25 release — across roughly 6,188 practices, an average of about 10,305 registered patients per practice.

Which NHS area has the largest GP-registered population?

Greater Manchester has the largest registered GP list of any English ICB in the QOF 2024-25 data — about 3,301,785 patients (Gera GP List Size Index 217, i.e. roughly 2.2× the average ICB). The smallest, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, has about 536,718 (index 35).

Is the index a rating of my GP practice?

No. The index summarises official NHS list-size statistics at ICB level. It is not a Gera survey and not a rating or ranking of any individual GP practice or of the care it provides — only a measure of how large each area's registered population is.

Where does the data come from and how often is it updated?

From NHS England's Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), published annually under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The current edition uses QOF 2024-25 (published 28 August 2025). Gera recomputes the index on each annual QOF release; the national workload context uses the NHS England General Practice Workforce statistics.

GeraClinic / GP List Size Index

The Gera GP List Size Index

One number for how large the GP-registered population is in each part of England. The Gera GP List Size Index scores all 42 Integrated Care Boards against the national average, where 100 = an exactly average-sized ICB and higher means a larger registered list. It is built from the real NHS England QOF 2024-25 list-size data. England had 63,766,671 registered patients across about 6,188 practices — roughly 10,305 per practice.

Reference period: 2024/25 (QOF)· updated annually on the NHS QOF release · Open Government Licence v3.0 · England · 42 ICBs

How large is the GP-registered patient population in each part of England?

In NHS England's QOF 2024-25 data, 63,766,671 patients were registered with a GP across about 6,188 practices — an average of roughly 10,305 registered patients per practice. The Gera GP List Size Index scores each of the 42 Integrated Care Boards against the national average (100), from Greater Manchester (index 217) down to Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (index 35).

Source:NHS England — Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) 2024-25 (registered patient list size)·as of 2024/25updated annually (last: 3 July 2026)

Gera GP List Size Index217 → 35Range across 42 English ICBs (100 = national average) — largest Greater Manchester, smallest Shropshire, Telford and WrekinHow this index is calculated

The index expresses each ICB’s real QOF registered list size as a share of the national-average ICB list (×100). Every list-size figure is the real published NHS number; only the scaling is Gera’s, and it is set out in full in the methodology.

Registered patients (England)

63.77m

63,766,671 · QOF 2024-25

Avg per GP practice

10,305

across ~6,188 practices

Patients per FTE GP

1,676

GP Workforce, April 2026

Largest ÷ smallest ICB

6.2×

Greater Manchester vs Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin

Why list size matters: the GP-workload context

List size is the denominator behind GP workload. NHS England’s General Practice Workforce statistics put the national figure at about 1,676 registered patients per full-time-equivalent GP (median 1,747 per practice, April 2026), with 28,777 fully-qualified FTE GPs as at 31 December 2025. That structural ratio — a large and growing registered list per GP — is why NHS practices continue to recruit GPs, including from overseas. These workforce figures are a separate NHS release and are shown here as context only; they are not part of the per-ICB index.

Find your ICB

Type an area or ICB name to see its registered list size, its Gera GP List Size Index and its national rank.

All 42 ICBs by registered GP list size

Ranked largest to smallest by registered patient list (QOF 2024-25). The index column is Gera’s scaling (100 = national-average ICB). Open any ICB for its detail page.

Gera GP List Size Index — registered GP list size by ICB (2024/25 (QOF))
#	ICB	Registered patients	Index (100=avg)	Share	Band
1	Greater Manchester	3,301,785	217	5.18%	Very large
2	North East and North Cumbria	3,233,237	213	5.07%	Very large
3	North West London	2,913,751	192	4.57%	Very large
4	Cheshire and Merseyside	2,802,101	185	4.39%	Very large
5	West Yorkshire	2,701,756	178	4.24%	Very large
6	North East London	2,476,394	163	3.88%	Very large
7	South East London	2,123,645	140	3.33%	Large
8	Kent and Medway	2,037,988	134	3.2%	Large
9	Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West	2,014,814	133	3.16%	Large
10	Hampshire and Isle of Wight	1,970,094	130	3.09%	Large
11	Lancashire and South Cumbria	1,868,985	123	2.93%	Large
12	Sussex ICB	1,859,565	122	2.92%	Large
13	North Central London	1,837,144	121	2.88%	Large
14	Humber and North Yorkshire	1,813,879	119	2.84%	Large
15	South West London	1,773,411	117	2.78%	Large
16	Hertfordshire and West Essex	1,664,954	110	2.61%	Large
17	Birmingham and Solihull	1,647,789	109	2.58%	Around average
18	South Yorkshire	1,527,240	101	2.4%	Around average
19	Black Country	1,342,206	88	2.1%	Small
20	Devon	1,297,313	85	2.03%	Small
21	Mid and South Essex	1,293,528	85	2.03%	Small
22	Nottingham and Nottinghamshire	1,283,321	85	2.01%	Small
23	Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland	1,234,392	81	1.94%	Small
24	Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent	1,207,109	80	1.89%	Small
25	Surrey Heartlands ICB	1,148,377	76	1.8%	Small
26	Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes	1,146,901	76	1.8%	Small
27	Derby and Derbyshire	1,142,579	75	1.79%	Small
28	Coventry and Warwickshire	1,118,811	74	1.75%	Small
29	Norfolk and Waveney	1,100,179	72	1.73%	Small
30	Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire	1,096,776	72	1.72%	Small
31	Suffolk and North East Essex	1,079,039	71	1.69%	Small
32	Cambridgeshire and Peterborough	1,056,627	70	1.66%	Small
33	Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire	1,012,517	67	1.59%	Small
34	Frimley	853,009	56	1.34%	Very small
35	Northamptonshire	849,848	56	1.33%	Very small
36	Herefordshire and Worcestershire	833,178	55	1.31%	Very small
37	Dorset	832,006	55	1.3%	Very small
38	Lincolnshire	825,803	54	1.3%	Very small
39	Gloucestershire	696,462	46	1.09%	Very small
40	Somerset	607,920	40	0.95%	Very small
41	Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly	603,520	40	0.95%	Very small
42	Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin	536,718	35	0.84%	Very small

Greater ManchesterVery largeindex 217 →North East and North CumbriaVery largeindex 213 →North West LondonVery largeindex 192 →Cheshire and MerseysideVery largeindex 185 →West YorkshireVery largeindex 178 →North East LondonVery largeindex 163 →South East LondonLargeindex 140 →Kent and MedwayLargeindex 134 →Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire WestLargeindex 133 →Hampshire and Isle of WightLargeindex 130 →Lancashire and South CumbriaLargeindex 123 →Sussex ICBLargeindex 122 →North Central LondonLargeindex 121 →Humber and North YorkshireLargeindex 119 →South West LondonLargeindex 117 →Hertfordshire and West EssexLargeindex 110 →Birmingham and SolihullAround averageindex 109 →South YorkshireAround averageindex 101 →Black CountrySmallindex 88 →DevonSmallindex 85 →Mid and South EssexSmallindex 85 →Nottingham and NottinghamshireSmallindex 85 →Leicester, Leicestershire and RutlandSmallindex 81 →Staffordshire and Stoke-on-TrentSmallindex 80 →Surrey Heartlands ICBSmallindex 76 →Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton KeynesSmallindex 76 →Derby and DerbyshireSmallindex 75 →Coventry and WarwickshireSmallindex 74 →Norfolk and WaveneySmallindex 72 →Bristol, North Somerset and South GloucestershireSmallindex 72 →Suffolk and North East EssexSmallindex 71 →Cambridgeshire and PeterboroughSmallindex 70 →Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and WiltshireSmallindex 67 →FrimleyVery smallindex 56 →NorthamptonshireVery smallindex 56 →Herefordshire and WorcestershireVery smallindex 55 →DorsetVery smallindex 55 →LincolnshireVery smallindex 54 →GloucestershireVery smallindex 46 →SomersetVery smallindex 40 →Cornwall and the Isles of ScillyVery smallindex 40 →Shropshire, Telford and WrekinVery smallindex 35 →

How the index is built (methodology) →

Gera GP List Size Index: FAQs

What is the Gera GP List Size Index?: The Gera GP List Size Index scores each of England's 42 Integrated Care Boards by the size of its registered GP patient list relative to the national average, where 100 is an exactly average-sized ICB and higher means a larger registered population. It is computed only from NHS England's Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) 2024-25 list-size figures, published under the Open Government Licence.
How many patients are registered with a GP in England?: About 63,766,671 patients were registered with a GP practice in England in the QOF 2024-25 release — across roughly 6,188 practices, an average of about 10,305 registered patients per practice.
Which NHS area has the largest GP-registered population?: Greater Manchester has the largest registered GP list of any English ICB in the QOF 2024-25 data — about 3,301,785 patients (Gera GP List Size Index 217, i.e. roughly 2.2× the average ICB). The smallest, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, has about 536,718 (index 35).
How many patients does each GP look after in England?: NHS England's General Practice Workforce statistics put the national figure at about 1,676 registered patients per full-time-equivalent GP (median 1,747 per practice, April 2026), with 28,777 fully-qualified FTE GPs as at 31 December 2025. That structural ratio is the reason NHS practices continue to recruit GPs, including internationally.
Is the index a rating of my GP practice?: No. The index summarises official NHS list-size statistics at ICB level. It is not a Gera survey and not a rating or ranking of any individual GP practice or of the care it provides — only a measure of how large each area's registered population is.
Where does the data come from and how often is it updated?: From NHS England's Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), published annually under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The current edition uses QOF 2024-25 (published 28 August 2025). Gera recomputes the index on each annual QOF release; the national workload context uses the NHS England General Practice Workforce statistics.

Struggling to get a GP appointment?

With about 1,676 patients per full-time GP nationally, many people use a private online consultation to speak to a UK-registered doctor without the wait. GeraClinic is a private service, not part of or affiliated with the NHS. For a medical emergency always call 999 or go to A&E.

See a GeraClinic doctor today How online consultations work

A structural GP shortage — the registration pathways

A large registered list per GP is a long-standing structural gap. For clinicians who independently choose to work in the UK, these pages set out the official registration pathways (information only — GeraClinic does not actively recruit from any country):

Related NHS data

Source

The per-ICB index is computed only from the real NHS England QOF 2024-25 registered list-size figures. The national GP-workload context (patients per FTE GP, fully-qualified FTE GPs) is from the NHS England General Practice Workforce statistics and is labelled as such. The index (the scaling) is the Gera contribution and is fully specified on the methodology page; no value is invented.

Contains public sector information published by NHS England and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: NHS England — Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) 2024-25 (registered patient list size) (2024/25, published 28 August 2025).

Contains public sector information published by NHS England and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: NHS England — General Practice Workforce (31 December 2025 / 30 April 2026) (2025-26, published 2026).