In some cases GPs are using fees to discourage patients, with one Lake Macquarie clinic charging $6 more than the Australian Medical Association (AMA) guideline of $64 for a level B, or standard 15-minute consultation.

Figures obtained from GP Access, formerly known as the Hunter Urban Division of General Practice, show that about 40 per cent of the region's 145 urban practices in Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Newcastle, can't cope with the demand for services and have closed their books.

A further 27 per cent will accept new patients only if they live in the postcode of the surgery or have a relative who is an existing patient.

In some parts of the Hunter there are more than 2000 residents for every full-time GP, while there are fewer than 800 per GP in some areas in Sydney.

The Hunter urban division has an overall ratio of 1595 people for each GP, about 40 per cent higher than the state average at 1120.

GP Access chief executive Mark Foster said the area would need an additional 95 doctors to bring it in line with the industry accepted standard of one GP per 1200 people.

Dr Foster said GPs were free to choose where they wanted to work and traditionally gravitated to large urban centres.

"In west Lake Macquarie there are a large number of nursing home beds and that is a bad match with the limited number of GPs in the area," he said.

According to the statistics, Maitland and west Lake Macquarie are the worst hit areas in the urban division with ratios of 1951 to one and 1843 to one respectively.

The ratio increased by 10 per cent in Maitland from 2006 to 2008.

In Wangi the ratio last year was more than 3000 to one and in Cooranbong and Toronto it was more than 2000 to one. In inner-Newcastle the ratio this year is 987 to one.

In east Lake Macquarie the ratio this year is 1337 to one, but this is compounded by the ageing population in the Shortland electorate.