WORCESTERSHIRE has one of the highest number of GPs per head of population.

The number of doctors has doubled over the last decade, according to Department of Health figures.

Worcestershire Primary Care Trust has the third highest level of GPs to population out of 17 in the whole of the West Midlands.

Worcestershire has 70 GPs for every 100,000 people compared with the regional average of 63.2 and national average of 65.3.

Worcester MP Mike Foster said: "Our local NHS has improved dramatically since 1997. Apart from our new hospital and three new GP super surgeries, we have recruited 45 extra GPs. This means we have better than average access to primary care and these figures prove it.

"The extra cash that has allowed the PCT to recruit GPs was a deliberate policy of this Government. We made the tough decision to raise national insurance to invest in the NHS. It has given Worcestershire one of the highest concentrations of GPs in the country.

"Our next move is to improve access arrangements. We have more GPs and we are paying them more too. Now we want to see a sea-change in how local people can access their GP, at a time that is more convenient to the public."

Dr Simon Parkinson, medical secretary for the Worcestershire Local Medical Committee, which represents the interests of 488 GPs in the county, said GP numbers had increased but not necessarily by as much as the Government claimed because some were only employed on a part-time basis.

Dr Parkinson, a partner at St Stephen's Surgery in Redditch, said: "More and more GPs are women and consequently a large proportion of them are women.

"There are six GPs in my practice but only three of us are full-time. Doctors will always say they could do with more GPs."