Red and green dots mark the areas of England with the longest and shortest GP wait times (Picture: Metro Graphic/Getty)
Patients waited more than three weeks for one in eight GP appointments in the worst performing part of England.
A new map reveals the areas of the country with the longest and shortest waiting times. Nearly half of the poorest performers are in the south-west.
An analysis of NHS data by Claims.co.uk looked into performance at each of England’s 42 integrated care boards, the bodies responsible for planning local health services.
More than 21 million GP appointments involved a wait longer than 22 days between between July 2021 and December 2023, roughly 5% of the total.
NHS Gloucestershire nabbed the unwanted top spot with nearly 600,000 appointments taking longer than 22 days from booking to consultation.
That’s almost 12.3% of the total number of appointments held at the region’s 73 GP practices.
A spokesperson for Claims.co.uk said: ‘These prolonged waits not only inconvenience patients but also pose potential risks to their health outcomes.’
Gloucestershire was nearly three percentage points higher than the next on the list.
The Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) with the shortest and longest GP appointment wait times (Picture: Metro Graphic/Getty)
Patients seeking appointments in NHS Dorset waited more than 22 weeks 9.6% of the time.
A spokesperson for NHS Dorset said the average waiting time for a routine appointment was two weeks, Dorset Echo reported.
Patients requiring routine care like diabetes check ups or flu vaccinations can book appointments up to six weeks in advance, skewing results, they claimed.
They said: ‘Despite being under intense pressure from increased demand and difficulties with recruitment, general practice in Dorset is committed to providing timely and quality healthcare services to all residents.’
Over in the East of England, this was the case for 8.1% of appointments at the 105 GP practices and five GP provider organisations under NHS Norfolk and Waveney.
NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes and its 91 practices weren’t far behind, with 7.69% of appointments taking more than 22 days to take place.
The 60 practices part of NHS Somerset were just 0.01% better. There, 7.68% of appointments involved a wait of more than 22 days.
England has a growing shortage of GPs as practices close, the number of GPs stagnates and the population grows.
The country has lost the equivalent of 1,830 fully qualified full-time GPs since 2015, according to the British Medical Association.
But the number of patients continues to rise.
The average GP practice had more than 3,500 extra patients in January than it did in September 2015.
In 2020, the government pledged £1.5 billion to recruit an additional 6,000 GPs and 26,000 other staff by 2024 in a bid to boost appointments.
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Then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘I want the NHS to be there for everyone when they need it.’
But four years on, the GP workforce has grown by less than half that number.
Some parts of the country are faring better when it comes to waiting times for GP appointments.
Just 3% of appointments at the ICBs of North East London, Birmingham and Solihull, and Coventry and Warwickshire took longer than 22 days to deliver.
The figures for NHS North Central and NHS Fimley respectively were 3.3% and 3.4% of appointments.
A spokesperson for Claims.co.uk said: ‘Timely access to primary healthcare services is essential for early intervention and prevention of health issues.
‘Addressing the underlying factors contributing to these lengthy waits, whether they stem from resource shortages, system inefficiencies, or other challenges, is imperative to ensure equitable access to healthcare for all individuals in these areas.’
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