GP Visit Stats

The NHS is regularly in the news for sub-par performance. But how bad is it really? How hard is it to reach your GP—and how long does it take to be seen? NimbleFins has dug into data from the January 2025 Health Insight Study to find out the answers to these questions, and more. Here's what we found.

What's the best way to contact your GP?

The most common way to contact the GP is via telephone. This method is used by 47.3% of people who successfully contacted their GP in the 28 days ending at the end of January 2025. Next, patients use online methods (35.7%) followed by in person (15.2%).

What's the easiest way to contact the GP?

While telephone may be the most common way to contact the GP, it's not the easiest. Out of telephone, online and in person methods of contact, telephone is seen as the least easy and the most difficult.

The easiest way to contact the GP is perceived to be an in-person communication, despite the fact that this is the least used.

We'd guess that's because for people who live within easy walking distance of the GP and who are available during working hours to make an in-person query—that's the easiest way to get an issue resolved. But most people can't easily pop into their GP surgery during normal working hours—because they'll be at work themselves.

What to do if you can't reach your GP?

What happens to the people who can't reach their GP—how are they treated?

Unfortunately, more than a third (37.2%) of people who can't reach the GP do nothing. Around a fifth (18.7%) end up treating themselves.

One in 20 contact 111, 3.3% go to A&E and 7.3% visit a pharmacy for help.

How long does it take to get an appointment with your GP?

Once you connect with your GP to make an appointment, how long does it actually take to see a health care provider? Not surprisingly, it takes a little longer to get an in-person appointment, with higher odds of getting a call back the same day, compared to a face-to-face appointment.

Face-to-face appointments

For those offered a face-to-face appointment in the previous 28 days, 38.5% were offered a same-day appointment.

But 16% had to wait more than two weeks to be see in person by the GP.

Call-back appointments

For those offered a call-back appointment in the previous 28 days, 42.3% were called by the GP the same day. And 15.7% were called the next day.

But 8.1% had to wait over two weeks to receive a call back from the GP.

Odds you can see the GP you want

Many people have a favourite GP—or a GP who knows their medical history and is familiar to them. We usually want to see THAT practitioner, if possible. How easy is it to see the GP you prefer?

What goes wrong when people can't see their preferred GP?

It's because there are no available appointments within 48 hours (19.2% of the time) or even 2 weeks (33% of the time).

How good is the GP experience?

For those who tried to contact their GP practice in the last 28 days, the perception of overall experience of the GP practice was quite positive in the latest survey. On average, 72.9% reported a "good" experience, while 115 reported a "poor" experience. The rest felt that the experience was neutral.

These figures have improved notably since last summer:

How many people are on hospital waiting lists?

Overall, 85.9% of survey respondents were on a hospital waiting list; while 14.1% were not.

The worst region for hospital waiting lists is the South West, where 87% of survey respondents were waiting.

The best region for hospital waiting lists is the North West, were 83.6% of survey respondents were waiting.

Methodology

NimbleFins analysis of data from the Health Insight Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and funded by NHS England.

The reference period for the data in this release is 10 December 2024 to 1 January 2025. Surveyors were asked to answer questions with respect to the last 28 days.

Wondering about using a private GP instead of the NHS—and how private medical insurance can help pay for it? Read about some of the best private medical insurance companies here.