Patients wait a month for one million GP appointments

MORE than a million GP appointments in November took place at least four weeks after they were booked, analysis has shown.

A total of 1.5million appointments – one in 20 for the month – saw patients waiting a month or more.

The Liberal Democrats, who commissioned the analysis of figures from the House of Commons Library, said investment in practices in England for 2022/23 was £350million less in real terms than in 2018/19, and that average funding per patient was down £12 to £165.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: ‘Being able to see your GP when you need to should be the very cornerstone of the NHS. That is why the Liberal Democrats would give people a legal right to see their GP within seven days, or 24 hours if in urgent need.’

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘General practice is the bedrock of the NHS, and investing in it leads both to better health outcomes for patients and delivers amazing value to the NHS.’ She added that ‘funding cuts in primary care adversely impact communities with higher rates of deprivation, worsening the situation for some of our most vulnerable patients’.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: ‘We are committed to improving access to GPs, and we are now delivering 50million more GP appointments per year.

‘The most recent data shows GP funding increased in real terms by 19 per cent between 2017 and 2022, and our Primary Care Recovery Plan is investing £645million to expand pharmaceutical services and take pressure off general practice.’