GP access woes: Millions face hurdles

As reported by Practice Index, despite efforts to improve access, nearly three million people a month are struggling to reach GP practices, with 10% unable to make contact and 6% being told to try another day

A new survey of GP access has been undertaken since May this year and found little change up to the end of October, the Health Service Journal revealed. The survey is a new study by the Office for National Statistics and is being conducted fortnightly. It found that 10% of patients report not being able to make contact with their practice in the previous month – and that 6% made contact but were told to try another day.

The research uses samples of 2,500 people taking part in a regular opinion and lifestyle survey. The percentages are equivalent to 2.8 million people a month being unable to make contact and another 1.5 million being told to call the next day, according to the HSJ analysis. About half the respondents in the survey said they had tried to contact a practice in the previous month.

The survey found that 65% reported successfully contacting a practice on the day they tried and another 25% having success on subsequent days. According to the latest data, 13% made contact in person, 67% by phone and 18% on-line. The NHS has just issued a call for contractors to provide modernised phone systems, promised to practices by the Government,

A spokesperson for NHS England told the journal: “Staff across the NHS are working hard to cope with increased demand with GPs delivering half a million more appointments each week compared to pre-pandemic – up almost a quarter since the previous year. In line with our commitment to recover access to primary care, the NHS is upgrading telephone systems to make it easier for people to contact their general practice while more than 31,000 additional staff have joined GP teams since 2019 to deliver even more appointments.”