Planning the healthcare workforce: how many GPs do we need?

Healthcare workers are the most vital of healthcare inputs, and most informed observers and commentators would argue that the NHS needs more staff. But how many more? Part of the problem with planning how many more members of staff the NHS needs is the word “need.” Wants, demands, and needs are often, wrongly, used interchangeably. And, in healthcare, demand and supply are not independent—demand can be influenced by supply, and whatever is demanded might not be what people want or what they need.

With that confusion in mind, how many general practitioners do we need? The economist’s approach to this question requires a couple more ideas to produce an answer. One is the concept of opportunity …