More than 38 million patients in England have waited longer than a fortnight for a GP appointment since the government promised everyone would be able to get one within 14 days.
In September last year, the government said patients would be able to see a family doctor within two weeks of booking a consultation. Thérèse Coffey, the then health secretary, promised to prioritise the issue with a “laser-like focus”.
However, since then 38m appointments have taken place more than two weeks after being requested, according to a House of Commons library analysis of NHS data.
Between October 2022 and May this year, the most recent month for which figures are available, nearly 5 million patients waited more than a fortnight for a GP appointment every month.
The Liberal Democrats, who commissioned the analysis, called on Steve Barclay, the current health secretary, to launch a GP rescue plan over the summer, including a campaign to urge retired doctors back to the workforce.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said: “The Conservative government’s neglect of our local health services is having real consequences for so many. People unable to get a GP appointment are being left waiting in pain, anxious about when they will get the care they deserve.
“Conservative ministers must listen for once and come up with a plan to tackle the GP crisis before parliament returns. That should include a recruitment campaign over the summer to encourage retired GPs back to work.”
The Lib Dems are calling for a new right for patients to see a GP within a week, or within 24 hours if in urgent need. They say this could be achieved by increasing the number of GPs by 8,000.
In the last year, the analysis found, almost one in six (16.5%) GP appointments involved waits of 15 days or more.
The report analysed the length of time between when GP appointments were booked and when they took place, with data covering the year from June 2022 to May 2023.
Waits of more than two weeks may include some for which that is appropriate, the House of Commons library suggested. They could reflect patient preference as well as enforced waits.
In the last 12 months, the south-west was the worst affected region, with one in five (20%) GP appointments taking place two weeks after being booked. London had the smallest proportion of waits of 15 days or longer, at just over one in 10 (11%).
The Department of Health and Social Care said it had recently pledged £240m to help “tackle the 8am rush” and make it easier for patients to see a GP using technology.
It also claimed its long-term NHS workforce plan, which was first promised in 2017 and published last month, would recruit and retain “hundreds of thousands more staff”.
