Month-long waits to see GP for some West patients

SOME patients in parts of the West are commonly having to wait more than a month to see a GP, new figures from the NHS show.

- DAVID DUBAS-FISHER

The postcode lottery means that one in 10 patients in some parts of the country are enduring such waits.

More than 1.5 million appointments at practices across England in March took place more than four weeks after being booked, new figures from the NHS show.

That works out as five per cent of appointments, or one in every 20.

That's the same proportion as in March 2024 and also in March 2019, the last March before the pandemic.

Where you live in the country has a huge impact on how likely it is that you'll have to wait over a month in order to see someone at your doctor's surgery though. Around one in nine (11 per cent) of March GP appointments in Gloucestershire took place more than 28 days after booking. That's the highest ratio in the country.