Appointments with GPS ‘last just 5 minutes’

ONE in five GP appointments in Staffordshire last five minutes or less – although patients in some areas are the least likely in England to have short appointments.

The Royal College of GPS (RCGP) wants 15-minute sessions to be made standard so patients with complex health needs can get the right care.

But the group said doctors are working under “intense pressure” as figures show falling numbers of full-time, fully qualified GPS, and added that ministers must boost staff levels.

NHS Digital has published figures for the first time on the length of GP appointments recorded across the country.

Across the six Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGS) covering Staffordshire, 254,043 appointments (19.9 per cent) attended in the four months to March this year lasted between one and five minutes.

A further 344,155 appointments (26.9 per cent) were recorded as having lasted between six and 10 minutes, while 269,435 (21.1 per cent) were between 11 and 15 minutes.

In the East Staffordshire CCG area, 25.6 per cent of attended appointments with a known duration were completed within five minutes – the highest proportion of any area locally.

However, the figure stood at just 15.6 per cent in the Stoke-on-trent CCG area, which was the lowest proportion lasting five minutes or less out of more than 100 CCG areas in England.

North Staffordshire (17.6 per cent) and Stafford and Surrounds (17.7 per cent) had the second- and third-lowest proportions respectively.

However, NHS Digital said that different practices recorded the length of appointments in slightly different ways, which could affect comparisons between areas.

Across England, 16.7 million appointments recorded between December 2021 and March this year were completed within five minutes – 22.7 per cent of all those with a known length.

Meanwhile, 19.6 million (26.6 per cent) lasted between six and 10 minutes, and 14.4 million (19.6 per cent) from 11 to 15 minutes.

Overall, GP practices recorded 29.6 million appointments in March alone, 4.2 million more than the previous month.