Struggling social care services across Bucks are putting an increased pressure on GP surgeries already facing an “unsustainable workload”, according to demoralised doctors.

Buckinghamshire County Council admitted the ageing and increasing population is putting a higher demand on social care services, which doctors claim is adding extra pressure to primary care.

This comes as a new study by medical journal The Lancet found that GPs are dealing with their highest workload ever after seeing an increase in appointments per person by nearly 11 percent from 2007 to 2014.

Overstretched doctors said that a staggering 50 percent of patients booking appointments do not actually need to see a doctor as they introduce new services which are hoped to reduce appointment waiting times.

Dr Penny Macdonald from Marlow Medical Group on Victoria Road said: “There are numerous things that are putting strain on GPs and failings in the social care system is one of them.

“We get a lot of people coming in that don’t necessarily need to see a doctor which is adding to the increasing pressure. Around a third of GPs are set to retire in the next five years.

"They are pushing it forward because it is just so unappealing to work in general practice. We and all practices are just so vulnerable.”

However health chief at BCC, Mike Appleyard, said the council had not been made aware of the pressure the increase in elderly was having on Bucks surgeries and the budget had been increased to feed the increased demand on services.

He said: “While Buckinghamshire’s population was expected to increase from 2013 to 2018 by 4 per cent to 536,454, the number of over-65s was expected to rise by 13 per cent.

“We recognised some years back that this projected growth was likely to demand more from our care services. So we planned to spend more in the coming years, increasing our Health and Wellbeing budget from £114.4 million in 2013/14 to £131.9 million in 2019/20.”

NHS England conformed there is an increased pressure on GP practices across the country, but also said it is not aware Bucks practices are experiencing more difficult than others around nationally.

A spokesman said: “We continue to work on a wide range of measures aimed at supporting GPs and tackling workload.

“As part of our efforts to boost primary care, we are investing £10m in struggling practices and we will announce more details soon.”