Patients have to wait for over 10 days to secure GP appointment in Greater London, study finds

The findings also reveal patients based and registered with GPs in South London had to wait the longest for up to 11 days, followed by patients in the East and West, who had to wait for up to 10 days to secure an appointment.

Table 1 Average waiting times when patients call surgeries mid-week

Study also suggests that patients in Merton and Redbridge are waiting for GP appointments the longest, for up to 30 days.

Within Central London, practices in Lambeth proved to be the busiest, with patients waiting for almost two weeks to get an appointment when calling surgeries mid-week. This is followed by Westminster, where the average waiting period was 13 days.

Despite their central location, patients based in City and Hackney found it easiest to see their GP – on average, practices were able to offer GP appointments on the same day.

Table 2  Average waiting times in Central London

Dr. Kenny Livingstone, GP and founder of ZoomDoc, said:

Patients now understand the tricks of the trade and call their surgeries up at 8am Monday morning to secure appointments for the week, most of which get booked within minutes of their release. But everyone has a different set of priorities and time constraints and ringing up a GP may not be possible at the start of a workweek.

It’s also important to bear in mind that patients can get sick at any time and so if you feel unwell during the middle of the week and want to see your GP, you probably won’t secure an appointment for that week. And so, with waiting times stretching up to a month in certain surgeries, patients are forced as a last resort to manipulate the system and exaggerate symptoms to squeeze into earlier appointments, unwittingly putting further strain on an overburdened system.

The recent findings point to a stretched public healthcare system due to many factors, including a rising population, the growth of chronic diseases and their management as people live longer and a declining GP workforce as people pull out due to burnout from workloads in the NHS. The trends we see, particularly in London, support the surge in market demand for an accessible, private GP-on-demand service through which patients are able to see a GP within 60 minutes, who can then diagnose ailments, prescribe medication and even write referrals.

From the supply-side, GPs want more flexibility in their work and a better way to service patients. As a GP myself, I am frustrated that I get to spend little time with my patients at the surgery. What we’re seeing is market forces at work as the private market, working in tandem with the public healthcare system, absorbs patients and GPs unhappy with the current system.