More than one in 10 waiting over fortnight for GP appointment in region, figures show

Data from NHS Digital showed 902,343 appointments took place at practices in the Black Country and West Birmingham and Staffordshire this October.

And it showed around 15 per cent – or over 140,000 – of these took place more than a fortnight after being booked, with above 50,000 waiting over 28 days.

But health chiefs have stressed it is not known the nature of the appointments being booked and they could be for a long-term conditions review or health check, which would impact the figures.

Sarb Basi, director of primary care for NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board, said: “It is appropriate that providers of NHS services are scrutinised and held to account for performance. We are committed to ensuring that people receive a consistent service from their family doctor, no matter where in the Black Country they live. We are aware of variations in patient access across primary care and we work closely with practices to continually review performance and support them to make improvements where necessary.

“I would like to remind patients that your GP is open and here for you. Primary care has returned to and exceeded pre-pandemic levels of service, however it is working differently, offering more online and telephone appointments, and making use of a wider range of healthcare professionals to ensure people get seen by the right expert for their level of need. This means we are able to offer more appointments than ever before and see more patients on the same day where appropriate.”

Bosses added the data has a “number of limitations” and should not be taken as a true picture of GP workload and capacity, or as an indicator of the quality of care provided by them.

They added the figures relate only to patient appointments recorded in the GP appointments system, and not all patient interactions such as reviewing test results – and does not include bookings through third-party sessions such as through online form or via NHS111, and GP practices could record data differently.

A spokesman on behalf of the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board added: “These are experimental statistics and we need to take time to study them and what they mean for each of our GP practices. What is clear is that overall there are now more appointments than before the Covid pandemic and we are making great efforts to make sure patients are seen by the most appropriate clinician and the earliest possible opportunity.

“If data shows any concerns about individual practices we shall work with them to address issues identified.”

The new practice-level figures come as part of the Government’s “plan for patients”, which includes a new ambition for every patient to get an appointment at their GP practice within two weeks.

However, the RCGP said the Government should address the root cause of GP pressures – including recruitment and retention of doctors – “instead of lumbering a struggling service with new expectations”.

Chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: “A record 36.1 million consultations were delivered in October, almost 40 per cent of these on the day they were booked and more than 71 per cent delivered in-person, the highest proportion since before the pandemic.”

Prof Hawthorne said GP workloads have escalated while the number of fully qualified full-time equivalent GPs has fallen by 719 across England since 2019. “GP teams are just as frustrated as patients when they don’t have the resources and time to deliver the high standard of care to patients they want to, and in some areas where the pressures are even greater, this is happening more,” she added.

Meanwhile, Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said primary care should engage with patients and find out their priorities, such as whether face-to-face appointments are priority for them, to help the NHS improve triage and resource prioritisation.

This week, the Government set out plans to overhaul NHS pension rules in an attempt to retain more senior doctors in the service.

Launching an eight-week consultation, ministers said the proposed changes would also remove barriers to retired clinicians returning to work – including new “flexibilities” to allow retired and partially retired staff to return to work or increase their working hours without having payments to their pension reduced or suspended.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the proposed changes “will help open up extra appointments so patients can see their GP and consultants more quickly”.

LIST:

In Black Country and West Birmingham, the practices with the highest proportion of appointments occurring after a fortnight were:

Sycamore House Medical Centre (Walsall) – 53.1% of 3,085 appointments took place more than two weeks after they had been booked in October

Bilston Family Practice (Bilston) – 46.8% of 1,605 appointments

Rangeways Road Surgery (Kingswinford) – 46.2% of 3,273 appointments

Dr Mudigonda (Bilston) – 45.6% of 1,389 appointments

Bloxwich Medical Practice (Bloxwich) – 44.8% of 2,562 appointments

Wychbury Medical Group (Wollescote) – 41.5% of 12,035 appointments

Lapal Medical Practice (Halesowen) – 39.8% of 4,521 appointments

Lichfield St Surgery (Walsall) – 38.2% of 5,441 appointments

At the other end of the scale:

Probert Road Surgery (Wolverhampton) – just 0.5% of 2,530 appointments saw patients wait longer than a fortnight in October

Central Clinic – 1% of 1,206 appointments

Walford Street, Tividale (Tividale) – 1.1% of 921 appointments

St Paul’s Partnership - Lyng Medical (West Bromwich) – 1.7% of 1,523 appointments

Berkley Practice (Walsall) – 1.8% of 5,450 appointments

Rood End Medical Practice (Oldbury) – 1.9% of 1,607 appointments

Rough Hay Surgery (Darlaston) – 1.9% of 2,021 appointments

The Greens Health Centre (Dudley) – 2% of 2,484 appointments

Willenhall Medical Centre (Willenhall) – 2% of 3,179 appointments

Primrose Lane Practice (Wolverhampton) – 2.1% of 916 appointments

Across Staffordshire, the practices with the highest proportion of appointments occurring after a fortnight were:

The Colliery Practice (Cannock) – 47.1% of 8,543 appointments took place more than two weeks after they had been booked in October

Bilbrook Medical Centre (Codsall) – 46.3% of 4,930

Dale Medical Practice (Wombourne) – 37.5% of 2,975

Crown Surgery (Stafford) – 36.1% of 4,761

Brewood Medical Practice (Brewood) – 36% of 5,607

Darwin Medical Centre (Burntwood) – 32.3% of 10,183

Russell House Surgery (Codsall) – 32% of 3,570

Rising Brook (Stafford) – 32% of 4,839 appointments

Red Lion Surgery (Cannock) – 29.8% of 1,697 appointments

Brereton Surgery (Rugeley) – 25.6% of 2,410 appointments

At the other end of the scale:

Tamar Medical Centre (Perton) – just 1.8% of 1,474 appointments saw patients wait longer than a fortnight in October

Dr Khare’s Surgery (Tamworth) – 2.2% of 1,017 appointments

The Aldergate Medical Practice (Tamworth) – 2.5% of 7,680 appointments

Norton Canes Health Centre (Cannock) – just 2.6% of 1,720 appointments

Norton Canes Practice (Cannock) – 3.1% of 1,955 appointments

Norton Canes Surgery (Cannock) – 4% of 1,723 appointments

Riverside Surgery (Tamworth) – 4.6% of 5,840 appointments

Quinton Practice (Great Wyrley)– 5.6% of 3,308 appointments

Southfield Way Surgery (Great Wyrley) – 6.4% of 2,063 appointments

Lakeside (Perton) – 8.3% of 2,702 appointments