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Fewer than one in four GPs surgeries will be affected by doctors taking industrial action on Thursday over a pensions shakeup, according to a snapshot survey.
The medical magazine Pulse found that across 20 primary care trusts (PCTs) in England, 281 of the 1,265 surgeries had given notice of their intention to join the first industrial action by doctors since 1975.
In Nottinghamshire and Nottingham City PCT areas, for example, 28 of the 161 practices intended to take action, Pulse found.
Dr Greg Place, chair of the Nottinghamshire local medical committee, said GPs were "steaming furious" about pension changes but also concerned about their workload. "We will have to do everything we don't do on Thursday on Wednesday and Friday instead. The only people who will suffer is us", he said.
In Surrey, 15 out of 129 GP surgeries have indicated they will be taking action. Across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Suffolk, 134 of the 207 practices intend to be fully open as usual.
GPs in Tower Hamlets, east London, plan to hold a protest agsinst the government on Thursday. One GP, Kirsten Shirke, told Pulse: "All the doctors in our practice are supportive of action. We see the pension reforms as one part of an attack on the NHS. We all feel very angry about these proposals."
The British Medical Association (BMA) argues that the reforms will force doctors to contribute more during their careers, receive smaller sums in retirement and lose their final salary pension scheme. The NHS pension scheme was reviewed and modernised as recently as 2008 and the union says it does not need to be overhauled again as it generates a £2bn surplus each year.
It said last month that among 17,561 GPs who voted in a ballot, 79% backed industrial action short of a strike and 63% endorsed strike action. The BMA is proposing that GPs attend their surgery as usual on Thursday and continue to provide urgent and emergency care, but do not undertake routine apointments.
Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, wrote to the BMA last week claiming that as many as 1.25m GP appointments could be affected. The BMA declined to comment on Pulse's findings.
The Department of Health said: "It is encouraging that some GP practices are putting the needs of their patients ahead of striking over pensions. Industrial action will mean there is a backlog of patients waiting to be seen by their GP in the following days and weeks – and as GPs understand better than anyone, today's routine appointments can become tomorrow's emergencies."
The Primary Care Trust Network has warned that some GPs could be in breach of their contracts by taking industrial action on Thursday, and may not be paid that day. The network, which represents the 52 PCT clusters in England, said: "There is no doubt that industrial action taken by GPs could lead to a breach of contract. But that would depend on the nature of the action and the detail of the contract with the practice.
"As a result, individual PCTs may take different approaches on what action to take and whether to withhold payment to GPs."
