Patients being ‘rushed through’ GP appointments in matter of minutes
The ongoing shortage of doctors means one in six people are 'crammed into' short slots. One in six GP appointments in England last less than five minutes, according to new data showing patients are being “crammed in”.
NHS figures show millions of patients are seen in slots of between one and five minutes, amid warnings that shortages of family doctors mean patients are increasingly being rushed. The House of Commons Library analysis is based on NHS figures for the year between March 2022, when such data was first published, and February of this year.
They show that on average, 17.2 per cent of GP appointments in England in the past year lasted less than five minutes. This suggests around 51 million appointments of less than five minutes over 12 months. However, in some areas the proportion of patients being rushed through rapid appointments was far higher.
West Suffolk, home to former Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s constituency, had the highest proportion of short GP appointments than anywhere in the country with 21.8 per cent lasting five minutes or less. Other areas with the highest percentage of short appointments were West Leicestershire (20.9 per cent), Ipswich and East Suffolk (20.9 per cent), and North East Lincolnshire (20.per cent). This contrasts with Fylde and Wyre in Lancashire, where just one in ten GP appointments were shorter than 5 minutes.
Research has previously found that Britain has some of the shortest average GP appointments among similarly wealthy countries around the world. The Royal College of General Practice has called for standard GP appointments to be at least 15 minutes by 2030, with longer appointments for those with complex needs.
Last month, international research found that British patients face the shortest GP appointments . The study of 10,000 GPs in 10 high-income countries, led by the Health Foundation, found Britain had the shortest appointment times, at an average of 10 minutes, along with Germany. Sweden had the longest slots at 25 minutes, with average times of 20 minutes in Switzerland and the United States, and most countries averaging 15 minutes.
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