The chronic shortage of family doctors in the capital will be discussed by medical students and a government minister on Tuesday.

Health Minister John Hutton will attempt to convince students from St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London, to become GPs.

It is part of National General Practice Week which aims to promote family medicine.

Over the next 10 to 15 years, one in three family doctors will retire.

GP shortages

Tower Hamlets Newham Southwark Merton & Sutton Lewisham Lambeth Hounslow Haringey Hackney

The more deprived areas are those worst hit by GP shortages.

Many family doctors cannot cope with the numbers of people on their books and have closed their lists.

This year the south London boroughs of Southwark and Lewisham have seen more than 1,000 people removed from their local doctors' lists and forced to find different GPs.

Some of those patients had been with their GPs for several decades.

In France there is one GP for every 700 people, but in London the figure is one GP for every 1,700 people.

Recent studies suggest overwork and stress are the main reasons why GPs want to leave.

The main things influencing their dissatisfaction were paperwork, administration, demands from patients and organisational change.