​Longest waiting times on record in England for GP appointments

The average waiting time to see a GP in England has breached two weeks for the first time on record, according to a poll recent of 901 GPs.

The research, carried out by Pulse magazine, found that the average wait for a routine appointment with a GP in England has increased by two days in the past two years, and now stands at 14.8 days.

Thousands of patients have had to wait over a month for an appointment, while one fifth of GPs said that waiting times have reached over 3 weeks. Some patients have even had to wait as long as six weeks before they were able to see a doctor, with one in twenty doctors claiming their patients have to wait for more than a month and 11 of the GPs polled stating their waiting times were over 5 weeks.

One GP, whose practice has a four to five week waiting list, said: ‘We currently have barely any pre-bookable appointments available due to lack of capacity.’

This comes as NHS is experiencing the first steady decrease in family doctors in over 50 years – the health service lost nearly 900 GPs between 2016 and 2018, while a record 138 GP surgeries shut down across the country last year.

The past twelve months alone has seen four in ten GPs take early retirement, as doctors are retiring in their 50s to avoid new tax penalties on their pensions, or dramatically reduce their hours due to reforms introduced in 2016. A survey by the British Medical Association found that 42% of GPs - and 30% of consultants - had cut back on their shifts over the pensions issue.

Meanwhile, English surgeries have gained an additional 1.4 million patients over the same time period of two years (although it must be noted that some of these may be duplicates).

Another GP, whose surgery also has a waiting list of around four to five weeks, added: ‘Our list size continues to grow because there are so many housing developments. Patient demand continues to soar with higher expectations, despite dreadful government funding.’

Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Baroness Jolly, said: ‘This looks like the beginning of the collapse of the general practice system. GPs are tired, overworked and do not want to work in inner cities or rural areas. This needs more than the Prime Minister throwing money at it, we need to work with GPs to look at how a 70-year-old system needs to change to deliver the service we need.’

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘When patients need to see a GP or member of the practice team urgently, we are working incredibly hard to ensure they can get access – and this is reflected in the most recent NHS figures. But people are waiting too long for routine appointments.’

However, in a bid to tackle the long waiting times the NHS is ordering GP surgeries to stop half-day closing in England, meaning an additional quarter of a million doctor appointments will become available. At the moment, more than 700 surgeries are currently thought to be closed for part of the week, while a small number of surgeries are open just 15 hours a week. According to the NHS, half-day closures meant more than an estimated one million hours of GP time could have been lost last year.

As part of the government's Long Term plan for the NHS, practices will have to seek permission from local health authorities to close during working hours, or risk relinquishing funding worth more than £40,000 per business.

Helen Dolan, Senior Partner and Head of Clinical Negligence here at Potter Rees Dolan, comments:

It is rather alarming to hear that patients are having to endure prolonged symptoms and/or anxiety about their condition whilst waiting weeks, and sometimes longer, to see their GP. A long wait for an appointment with a doctor could lead to delays in diagnosing a condition or even the worsening of an illness, which is extremely worrying for patients and their families. And while it is encouraging to hear that when patients need to see a GP or member of the practice team urgently the NHS are working hard to ensure they can get access, access to GPs should be equal for all patients. Hopefully we will see a much needed improvement to access for patients and appointment waiting times with the half-day closure ban coming into effect.

Helen Dolan is a Senior Partner and Head of Clinical Negligence here at Potter Rees Dolan. Should you have any queries about clinical negligence issues, or indeed any other aspect of this article and wish to speak to Helen or any other member of the team, please contact us on 0161 237 5888 or contact Helen directly.