More than 51 million GP appointments took five minutes or less last year because patients were ‘rushed’ out the door, official figures suggest.
Patients are typically offered ten-minute consultations, but more than one in six (17.2 percent) were terminated after less than half that time.
Campaigners warn doctors who shorten their visits risk missing symptoms and accumulating more serious problems for the future.
The House of Commons Library analyzed NHS data on the duration of in-person and out-of-home GP consultations from March 2022, when the figures were first published, to February 2023.
It shows that the share of one to five minute consultations in England ranged from 16 per cent in February to almost 21 per cent in October last year.
Patients are typically offered ten-minute consultations, but more than one in six (17.2 percent) were terminated after less than half that time (stock)
There were also regional differences across the country, with patients in some areas more than twice as likely to have a brief consultation than in others.
The Liberal Democrats, who commissioned the study, said the government’s failure to recruit more GPs has resulted in patients ‘waiting weeks for an appointment only to be rushed within minutes’.
West Suffolk, home to former Health Minister Matt Hancock’s constituency, had the highest rate of short GP appointments than anywhere else in the country: 21.8 per cent took five minutes or less.
Other areas with the highest rates of short-term tenure were West Leicestershire (20.9 per cent), Ipswich and East Suffolk (20.9 per cent) and North East Lincolnshire (20.4 per cent).
This is in contrast to Fylde and Wyre in Lancashire, where only one in ten (10.4 per cent) GP appointments were shorter than five minutes.
Research has previously shown that Britain has some of the shortest average GP appointments among comparably affluent countries around the world.
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, which campaigns for the elderly, said: ‘Reducing appointment times due to pressure on GPs is a surefire way to miss hidden symptoms.
‘GP practices usually spend 10 minutes per appointment, so that the GP has time to examine the patient’s general physical and mental well-being and not just the symptoms present.
‘Perhaps some patients go a bit overboard when given the rare opportunity to see their GP, but a revolving door policy can never be appropriate for elderly patients with multiple conditions.
“Cutting back on patients saves more acute problems for the future.”
The new analysis marks the first time that an annual figure has been given for the number of short-term appointments and has provided a regional breakdown.
The Royal College of General Practice has called for standard GP appointments of at least 15 minutes by 2030, with longer appointments for people with complex needs.
The Liberal Democrats want the government to recruit an additional 8,000 GPs and have drawn up plans to legally give patients the right to see a GP within seven days.
Daisy Cooper MP, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson, said: ‘Many patients need time to properly discuss their symptoms with a GP, particularly if they have complex health problems.
‘But because the government has not succeeded in recruiting the promised extra GPs, doctors have to cram in more and more short appointments.
“People have to wait weeks to get an appointment, but they get rushed through it in minutes.
Entire communities are paying the price for years of neglect by the Conservatives, which have driven local health services to the ground.
“The Liberal Democrats have drawn up a plan to increase the number of GPs and guarantee people the right to an appointment within a week, so that people finally get the care and attention they deserve.”
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, President of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘GPs and our teams work extremely hard despite the intense workload and pressure of staff to ensure that their patients receive safe, timely and appropriate care.
In the time frame analyzed by the Lib Dems, 345.8 million GP consultations were delivered and nearly 40 percent took longer than 10 minutes.
‘General practitioners increasingly need more time with patients, especially if they have complex or multiple health problems.
‘That is why the Board advocates 15 minutes as standard for general practitioner appointments, and longer for those who need it.
“However, this is not to say that every patient will need this time, as some simple conditions can be treated in less time, especially if it’s not the GP they’re visiting – for example, a simple blood test may only take a few minutes the time of a practice nurse – patients should therefore not feel that they are being ‘rushed’ if they have a short appointment.
“But years of underfunding and inadequate staff planning have meant GPs and our teams struggle to see all the patients who need our care and give them the time they need, especially when they see 50 or more patients a day,” he said. what many GPs report is a common phenomenon.
‘Imposing a legal requirement that all patients must be seen within a week would likely make this worse, as GP practices would be forced to reduce the length of each appointment to meet the target.
“There simply aren’t enough GPs or other members of the team to make it work – and not every patient will need or want to be seen within a week or even two weeks.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘To ensure patients receive the care they need, we are increasing capacity with hundreds more doctors in general practice than last year, record numbers in training and we are close to our target of supplying 26,000 additional physicians achieved. primary care personnel.
“We are making progress in improving access to ensure that patients who require an appointment are seen within two weeks, and those with urgent needs are seen the same day and will be detailing further support details shortly, through our first-line recovery plan and our personnel plan for the long term.’