Millions waiting over a month to see GP as delays hit record levels

Millions of Brits are having to wait over a month to see their GP as delays hit record highs, according to a new report.

In the first ten months of the year, it took more than 28 days to hold 14.9 million appointments, according to an investigation by The Times. The figure reveals a significant increase compared to last year's 12.8 million waits.

What's more concerning is that this year's number is expected to beat the previous record of 15.2 million, which was set in 2019. Due to the long delays, many patients either went to A&E or gave up entirely, the report added.

According to experts, the GP appointment crisis is the result of a growing population and a dwindling workforce. Family doctors are opting for early retirement in their 50s, moving abroad or switching to the private sector due to the mounting pressure, paperwork, and an unhealthy work environment.

The Times report showed 2.6 million appointments in October took place more than 28 days later, equivalent to one in 13 appointments. This number has jumped nearly a million compared to the pre-pandemic rate for the same month and is 700,000 higher than the number reported in October 2022.

Private health insurers, including Vitality and Spire Healthcare have seen an increase in customers wanting GP appointments, with a 40% spike from last year.

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A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We are making it easier for patients to see and contact their GP. There are now 44 more appointments on average in every GP practice, per working day compared to October 2019 and the government has met its manifesto commitment to deliver over 50 million more appointments every day."

NHS waiting lists

It comes as NHS England data showed a slight drop in the overall NHS waiting list for treatment, to 7.71 million treatments waiting to be carried out at the end of October, relating to 6.44 million patients.

This is down from the record 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients at the end of September.

But around one in three patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals in England last week waited more than 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E, figures show.

Some 28,498 delays of half an hour or longer were recorded across all hospital trusts in the week to 10 December.

This was 34% of the 84,268 arrivals by ambulance where the handover time was known.

The figure is up from 25% for the week ending 26 November.

Sunak's pledge

Cutting waiting lists was one of five pledges prime minister Rishi Sunak made at the start of the year.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has pointed out in recent weeks that waiting lists have gone up since Sunak set the goal of reducing them.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said the NHS waiting list stood at 7.8 million — half a million more than in January.

When Sunak was questioned on whether he would fail on his pledge to cut NHS waiting lists by the end of the year he said the NHS had been making good progress tackling the backlog before strike action.

Thousands of appointments have had to be reschedule due to strike action this year, with more strikes by junior doctors scheduled for next week and in January.