The Cambridgeshire GP surgeries where patients waited more than 22 days for an appointment

New figures have shown the GP surgeries in Cambridgeshire where patients waited more than 22 days for an appointment. These are based on statistics from the NHS appointments data dashboard in February 2024.

The data shows the percentage of appointments which are said to have taken place more than three weeks after booking during that month.

A number of GP services use 'AskMyGP' as a way of arranging and conducting appointments on the same day. Some of the listed surgeries have said that the GPAD data does not include figures from the system, but hope for positive change in the next month.

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The figures below, published by the Reach Data Unit, show the practices with the highest percentage of February appointments which took place over three weeks after booking:

"Early data is indicative of positive change"

A spokesperson for Papworth Surgery said: "We are aware of this data already. Unfortunately, there was an issue with how our computer system coded appointments which made our surgery appear to be an outlier.

"We are able however to provide evidence that our surgery has recently had excellent Friends and Family Survey Feedback. We also have had results from national surveys that show we rank significantly higher both locally and nationally for; ease of contacting us by phone, appointment times, reception helpfulness, continuity of care and appointment satisfaction."

A spokesperson for Ashwell Surgery said that they have adopted a new appointments booking process known as 'The Modern General Practice Model', enabling them to see all patient needs and improve the efficiency of their process. They added: "Early data is indicative of positive change regarding the length of time of appointments taking place from original request. We are pleased to say that our current wait for an appointment for what has been clinically assessed as “routine” is now approximately two days ahead."

"GP practices in this region are working at full capacity"

A Cornerstone Practice spokesperson said: "The NHS in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has 15 fewer GP surgeries and 100,000 more patients today compared with ten years ago. The Government’s recent GP contract has imposed real terms cuts to practice funding, and they refuse to give surgeries access to an existing funding pot to hire more GPs or practice nurses.

"Despite this, in February 2024, GP practice teams across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough delivered an astonishing 562,098 appointments – the equivalent of half the local population -and half of those on the day the patient got in touch.

"This puts the numbers of patients waiting more than 28 days into context - and many of those will be appointments scheduled in advance for the patient’s benefit, for example to provide better continuity of care. GP practices in this region and beyond are working at full capacity. Any blame for patients having to wait lies with the Government."

"General practice is crucial for long-term public health"

A spokesperson for Deepings Practice said: "The Deepings practice continues to deal with both acute and chronic problems for our patients. The practice always runs a same day service to assess and treat emergency problems. The GP’s work closely with our wonderful reception team to navigate a patient to the most appropriate part of the complex health service system for them.

"This does not automatically mean that patients are best placed to attend their GP practice as an emergency. In the last 12 months, Spalding urgent care centre has become operational alongside the new pharmacy led minor ailments service. Our patients can access both of these and other urgent care options alongside what we offer at a general practice level.

"Amidst government budget cuts affecting primary care funding, we face challenges in maintaining the quality of services. General practice is crucial for long-term public health, and we advocate for sustainable funding to continue providing excellent care. We encourage our patients to reach out to their MPs to support the future of primary care."

"We are extremely proud of the service we offer to all our patients"

A spokesperson for Mereside Medical said: "At Mereside Medical, comprising Staploe Medical Centre, Haddenham Surgery, and Cathedral Medical Centre, we operate an 'on the day' service through an online system called AskMyGP. Patients can access AskMyGP directly themselves, or they can call or visit us to create a healthcare request on their behalf.

"These requests are assessed on the same day and resolved through the most clinically appropriate mode of appointment (phone call, email, or face to face consultation). In the past year, Mereside Medical practices have handled over 150,000 requests for care through AskMyGP. Of these, 86 per cent have been resolved on the same day and 99 per cent have been resolved within five working days.

"These data are not yet included in the national databases that are publicly available, but we would expect these 'league tables' to show very different results when they are. In our case, the national database currently provides data for mostly routine appointments.

"By their nature routine appointments are on a scheduled and often recurring basis, conducted mainly by our nursing team, and are typically available within one to three weeks of booking. The timing of appointments is determined largely by clinical need, and also by capacity at the practices.

"We are extremely proud of the service we offer to all of our patients. The national GP survey shows that all of our practices consistently exceed regional and national performance on almost all measures."

"GP practices are working hard to support local people"

A spokesperson for NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough said: "GP practice teams across our area are working hard to support local people, and are offering tens of thousands of additional appointments a month compared to pre-pandemic levels.

"We understand that access to GP practice services is an important issue for our communities, so we’re working closely together with colleagues in general practice to continue to improve people’s experience of accessing care. This includes our work to implement the NHS England Primary Care Access Recovery Plan across the area, supporting practices to use new ways of working to improve access".

CambridgeshireLive contacted all GP surgeries listed for comment.