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

Millions of Britons have 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 make 14.9 million appointments, according to an investigation by The Times. The figure represents a significant increase from the 12.8 million expected last year.

What’s more worrying is that this year’s numbers are expected to beat the previous record of 15.2 million, which was set in 2019. Due to long delays, many patients have either gone to A&E or given up altogether, a added the report.

According to experts, the GP appointment crisis is the result of a growing population and a shrinking workforce. GPs are opting for early retirement at the age of 50, moving abroad or switching to the private sector due to increasing pressure, paperwork and an unhealthy work environment.

The Times report showed that 2.6 million appointments in October took place over 28 days, the equivalent of one in 13 appointments. That number is up nearly a million from 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 a rise in customers seeking doctor appointments, up 40% on last year.

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

NHS waiting lists

NHS England data showed a slight fall in the 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 a 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 more were recorded across all hospital trusts in the week to 10 December.

This was 34% of the 84,268 ambulance arrivals for which the handover time was known.

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

Sunak’s pledge

Cutting waiting lists was one of five pledges made by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the start of the year.

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has pointed out in recent weeks that waiting lists have grown since Sunak set out to reduce them.

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

When asked if he would not meet his pledge to reduce NHS waiting lists by the end of the year, Sunak said the NHS had made good progress in tackling the backlog before the strike action.

Thousands of appointments have had to be rescheduled due to this year’s strike, with more junior doctor strikes scheduled for next week and in January.