The doctor will see you… next month! One in twenty patients now have to wait at least four weeks for a GP appointment, so use our interactive map to see how bad the situation is in YOUR region
One in twenty patients has to wait at least four weeks for an appointment with the GP, according to devastating figures.
The number of patients faced with long waiting times of a month or longer has increased by 38 percent in the past year – from 12.8 to 17.6 million appointments.
In parts of the country such as the Vale of York, four-week waiting times have risen by 80 per cent in the same period, analysis of NHS data shows.
Meanwhile, more than 60 million consultations took place after a waiting period of at least fourteen days, an increase of 22 percent.
Patient groups said the long waiting times are further evidence of ‘GP deserts’ and warned the service is at risk of going ‘the same way as NHS dentistry’.
The analysis looked at the time between booking a GP appointment and the date it occurred, broken down by local NHS areas across England.
According to research by the Liberal Democrats, every local area in the country saw a four-week increase in GP waiting times in 2023 compared to the previous year.
This means that one in twenty (5.1 percent) of the almost 348 million GP appointments last year involved a waiting time of four weeks or longer.
In some areas – including Gloucestershire, Derbyshire and Sheffield, South Yorkshire, almost one in ten consultations lasted four weeks.
The Vale of York saw the highest increase in GP waiting times of four weeks or more, at 79 per cent, with 103,646 in 2023, compared to 57,779 in 2022.
Similarly, two-week waits rose 40 percent over the same period, from 263,758 to 369,231.
Bury in Greater Manchester saw a 74 per cent increase in four-week waiting times, East Leicestershire and Rutland saw a 69 per cent increase, and Blackpool, Lancashire, a 68 per cent increase.
In the Prime Minister’s backyard, North Yorkshire, there was a 56 per cent increase in four-week GP waiting times compared to the previous year.
Dennis Reed, director of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said: ‘The situation around access to GPs is becoming a sick joke.
‘Patients who experience symptoms other than mild may not be able to tolerate a wait of four to five weeks to see their GP.’
The situation is forcing people to bypass their doctor, he said, often by going straight to the emergency room, paying for a private visit or trying to treat themselves online.
He added: ‘We are already seeing GP deserts emerging, as this research shows, and we will soon see a similar situation to NHS dentistry, where it is almost impossible to access an NHS GP.’
A survey by the King’s Fund last week found that only a third of people are satisfied with GP services, the lowest in more than forty years.
Long waiting times for appointments were one of the main reasons for the poor ratings, with satisfaction with GP services falling by 34 percentage points since 2019.
The NHS says it is making more GP appointments than ever and some non-urgent appointments, such as vaccinations, are being booked further in advance.
Dr. Victoria Tzortziou-Brown, vice-president of the Royal College of GPs, said many appointments made several weeks in advance are perfectly suitable, for example for routine or check-up appointments.
“But we are concerned that many patients report that they struggle to get to their GP – and that they do not have enough time with us when they are able to make an appointment,” she said.
“The bottom line is that we don’t have enough primary care physicians to keep up with the growing need for our care, and patients are feeling the impact the most.”
The average number of patients per fully qualified GP now stands at 2,298, meaning each GP is on average responsible for 158 more patients than five years ago, she added.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘We are committed to improving access to GPs and, thanks to sticking to our plan for a faster, simpler and fairer healthcare system, we are now providing an additional 50 million GP appointments each year.
‘Our Primary Care Recovery Plan, supported by £645 million over two years, marks a major investment in primary care. This includes expanding the services offered by community pharmacies through Pharmacy First, freeing up up to 10 million GP appointments per year.
‘We are also investing £240 million in digital tools, telephony and training to ensure GP practices have everything they need to improve access for patients.’