1.3 million people waiting four weeks or more for GP appointment

New figures published by the Liberal Democrats reveal a stark rise in the number of people waiting for over a month for a GP appointment.

In May 2023, 1.3 million people had been waiting for four weeks or more for a GP appointment, a rise of nearly 400,000 compared to the same period last year (912,000 in May 2022).

One in 20 (5%) people waiting for a GP appointment were waiting for four weeks or more in May (up from 3% last year) with people living in rural counties disproportionately affected.

The area worst affected was Gloucestershire, with one in ten (10%) waiting four weeks or more. This was followed by Sheffield (10%), Derby and Derbyshire (9%), Dorset (8%) and the East Riding of Yorkshire (8%).

Lib Dems call on government to ensure all patients seen by a GP within a week

In light of this new research, the Liberal Democrats are now calling for a legal right for patients to see a GP within a week, or within 24 hours if in urgent need. This would be achieved by increasing the number of GPs by 8,000.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: “Far too many people are struggling to get a GP appointment when they need one, leaving them worried or waiting in pain for the treatment they need.

“The Conservatives have let down communities across the country by failing to recruit the extra GPs they promised.

“Rural areas are being particularly impacted by long GP waiting times hurting families and piling pressure on other NHS services. The government needs to launch an urgent review into the lack of access to GPs in rural communities and act to end yet another example of health inequality.

“Ministers should also back Liberal Democrat proposals to give everyone the legal right to an appointment within a week, or within 24 hours if in urgent need.”

Government must do more to retain GPs

However, Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, warns that GPs “cannot work any harder” and are delivering more appointments overall compared to before the pandemic.

She says that the current pressures in general practice are through “no fault of hardworking GPs and their teams”, but are instead due to years of underfunding and poor workforce planning.

“No patient should ever have to wait this amount of time for an appointment, regardless of where they live, and we share our patients’ frustration and distress when they struggle to access our care,” she said

“Around 85% of appointments in general practice are already happening within two weeks of being booked, and almost half are delivered on the day they are booked – yet we have nearly 900 fewer full-time fully qualified GPs compared to 2019,” she added.

Professor Hawthorne is now calling for more investment in retention initiatives to ensure that more GPs do not retire early or move to a different profession.

“The recently announced NHS Workforce Plan pledges to train more medical students and outlines plans to increase capacity in GP training. But we also need significant investment in retention initiatives so that existing GPs are encouraged to stay in the profession, as well as steps to cut bureaucracy so that GPs have more time to deliver care to the growing numbers of patients who need it,” she said.