Mapped: Worst areas for GP appointment waits revealed | EUROtoday

Patients are going through a “postcode lottery” for GP appointments with one in 10 individuals ready greater than a month to be seen in some areas, new analysis exhibits.

The variety of month-long waits hit a file excessive final yr and in nearly 95 per cent of areas there was a rise in individuals ready 28 days or extra.

The figures, compiled by the House of Commons Library, reveal the uphill battle going through Labour because it ramps up recruitment of household docs in a bid to chop ready occasions and ease stress on the NHS.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting introduced on Tuesday that an additional 1,503 GPs have been recruited since October, with the well being secretary prioritising companies nearer to sufferers’ houses.

But the variety of basic practitioners per affected person has fallen drastically up to now decade, leaving the system beneath vital pressure.

Below, The Independent has mapped the areas the place most sufferers are going through waits of a month or extra for appointments:

The House of Commons Library analysis confirmed that 100 out of 106 sub-Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) noticed the variety of 28-day or longer waits for GP appointments leap in 2024 in contrast with a yr earlier.

The starkest rise was in Sunderland, the place there was a 51 per cent improve in month-long waits, adopted by North East Lincolnshire with a 46 per cent leap and North Cumbria which noticed a 38 per cent spike.

The analysis, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, discovered Kent and Medway was the world with essentially the most month-long waits within the nation, with 781,000, rising by greater than a fifth from 2023’s stage.

Derby and Derbyshire had the second highest variety of month-long waits, with 722,000, up 14 per cent from a yr earlier.

Meanwhile, a couple of in 10 sufferers was pressured to attend greater than a month to see a GP in areas together with Gloucestershire, Chorley and South Ribble, Derby and Derbyshire and Dorset final yr.

Regionally, the south west had the very best portion of sufferers ready 28 days or extra for an appointment, with 7.7 per cent. Second worst was the north east and Yorkshire, adopted by the east of England and the south east.

The Liberal Democrats stated the figures revealed a “reveal a stark postcode lottery that is leaving people in vast swathes of the country without the care they deserve”. They known as for sufferers to have a authorized proper to see their GP inside seven days or 24 hours if in pressing want.

The occasion stated this might be executed by recruiting 8,000 extra GPs.

The occasion’s well being and social care spokesman Helen Morgan stated: “Many already in pain are being forced into anxiety-inducing waits that only add to their suffering and leave them at risk of not getting the treatment they need in time.”

Ms Morgan attacked the Conservatives over “broken promises” on the well being service, accusing the Tories of “running our local health services into the ground”.

But she stated: “It is now the Labour government not showing nearly enough ambition to break this cycle of misery.

“If we are going to give communities the local health care that they need, we have to go further and faster.

“That means giving patients a legal right to see their GP within a week by ensuring there are 8,000 more GPs. Only then will we be able to rebuild our NHS and get patients the care they deserve.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson stated: “This data does not show waiting times for GP appointments – it shows the length of time between appointments being booked and taking place.

“This government inherited GP services buckling after years of neglect but we have already taken urgent action to to fix the front door of the NHS.

“By cutting red tape and boosting funding, we have already put an extra 1,503 GPs into general practice to deliver more appointments. The extra investment and reforms we have made will allow patients to book appointments more easily, help bring back the family doctor and end the 8am scramble.”