Millions go private for GP appointment as 1.1m unable to contact doctor within a month

Analysis suggests 4.8 million people who tried to contact their GP in November 2024 couldn't make contact on the same day.

Of those, 2.2m had to wait several days to get in touch and 1.1m (one in 20) were completely unable to access their GP within the month, it's estimated.

The Liberal Democrats extrapolated Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures to represent the population of the UK, and branded the results a "crisis".

Jess Brown-Fuller MP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for hospitals and primary care, said: "The lack of GP appointments is leading to unnecessary hospital admissions, putting more strain on A&E and costing the NHS even more money."

Separate figures show the number of people going private to see a GP is edging close to four million.

Read more: The Average Cost of Private Health Insurance in the UK

Almost half (45%) of 18 to 24 year olds have opted to pay the average £50-£150 for an appointment, or claim on their health insurance, the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN) found in a survey.

Campaigners say list sizes have increased an average of 15% over the last decade while practices have shut down, partly due to pensions changes which make working less viable for older doctors.

Nearly half of those (46%) who chose private health care did so because they couldn't get an NHS appointment quickly enough, IHPN found.

Demand for private GP appointments rose 18% in 2023 at HCA Healthcare UK and the private healthcare provider expects to record a similar rise for 2024.

Of those asked by the ONS, 10.8% said they found it difficult to contact their GP in the past month across all communication methods. But when looking at access by telephone alone, this rose to 13.3%.

Despite issues with telephone booking, less than half (44.7%) were given a face to face appointment.

There were 7.54 million people on the NHS waiting list as of October 2024.

This is an increase from 7.21m in October 2022 and pre-pandemic levels of 4.57m.

Dr John Puntis, co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public and retired consultant paediatrician, said GP funding has shrunk below the average across the 38 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

He added: "GPs are the backbone of the NHS, providing 90% of all patient contacts.

"Lack of investment in staff, facilities and equipment coupled with increasing demand has led to the current crisis in access.

"GP list sizes have increased by about 15% over the last 10 years and 20% of practices have closed down.

"GPs have a vital role in health education and illness prevention; investment in primary care is estimated to generate a fourfold return for the economy. Primary care needs rebuilding and must be designed together with and focused on patients; continuity of care saves lives.

"The priority now should be raising funding to the OECD average, decreasing unnecessary workload and capping list sizes while expanding the numbers of GPs and other practice staff."

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “GP services are buckling after years of neglect but through our Plan for Change we will fix the NHS’s front door and shift the focus of healthcare from hospital to community.

“We are hiring an extra 1,000 GPs, and have proposed the biggest boost to GP funding in years – an extra £889 million – and bringing back the family doctor so patients most in need see the same doctor at every appointment.”

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