Access to appointments - an update

Hello.

It’s been a while since we spoke to you about what we are doing to make it as easy as possible for you to get the help you need from your GP practice - that’s us.

The good news…

We are seeing more of you, more often, than we have ever done before.

Appointment numbers and consultation rates are at an all-time high and we are helping more patients than ever before - on average we see, speak to, or consult with 9,395 patients per week (June 2026), which is more than double the same time last year.

It is much easier to get into the system, than it was at the beginning of the year

SystmConnect, our online portal for submitting your clinical and non-clinical requests, has been open daily for 11.5 hours for clinical requests - previously we had to close this system as early as 09:00am on our busiest days.

Our triage clinicians supported by their excellent admin colleagues, work unbelievably hard to make sure that the right patient, sees the right clinician, in the right timeframe for their needs.

It is a complicated job trying to balance patient need vs patient want and your safety always comes first - if we offer you an appointment in two weeks’ time, that’s because it is appropriate for you to be seen in two weeks’ time, given your current symptoms and medical history.

It is much easier to contact us phone, than it was at the beginning of the year.

Before you shout at us, we know there is still work to do here but…the average wait time for patients on the phone is better than it was at the beginning of the year. The introduction of the call-back option has really helped with this.

We would still encourage those of you who can can contact us online to use SystmConnect, accessed from our website of the NHS app, to submit your request - even if it’s just a simple administrative question; we respond to most of these on the same day, with the rest completed by the next working day - that’s got to be better than waiting in a call queue, right?

The current challenge…

It’s busy…really busy!

People are waiting longer than we would like for their appointment

Demand for appointments remains high. We’re worked extremely hard to meet the Governments’ expectation that GP practices should be open to requests from patients all day, but the fact is we don’t have an unlimited capacity to see patients once we have triaged them. No GP practice does. There has been no additional support or funding for GP practices to do this.

Sometimes our capacity is reduced further by annual leave or sickness - this is the case currently and despite our best efforts, we now have a backlog of people waiting to be seen.

It’s been easier to contact us (great) so people are contacting us about things they would usually manage themselves at home (not so great).

This is something that we have seen before when we offered unlimited access a number of years ago, pre-Covid. When you or someone you care about isn’t feeling well, you want to seek advice - that’s completely human and understandable. When access to the GP is easy (or easier than it has been), it becomes the go-to response, even for symptoms that have only just started or questions that would never normally been asked - ‘is it ok to get my baby’s ears pierced?'; ‘I’ve got a papercut'; ‘I’ve got a splinter’ - these are real examples.

To be clear, we are not saying that these aren’t valid concerns or questions, but is the GP the best person to ask?

What are we doing about it?

Dealing with the current backlog.

We need to see the patients that are currently waiting before we can safely see more.

Therefore we have taken the difficult decision to restrict access to new requests, and we will be closing the system earlier than normal. Is this frustrating? Yes - we are just as frustrated as you are, but it is the right thing to do until we get back on track.

Getting more staff.

We have been able to recruit another 4 new GPs who will be starting with us over the next few weeks. It will take a little time, but these new colleagues will allow us to help even more patients.

Looking at other options to help us with our call queues.

We are looking at how new technology can help us to answer your calls quicker. We are hoping to try something new in the coming months - watch this space for more information.

A final word…

Thank you for your ongoing patience and support. General Practice is a very complicated place to be right now, and we are all lucky to hae an excellent team wo really are trying their best in extremely difficult circumstances.

We have however, started to see a rise in the abuse that our team receives. Everything from swearing to personal threats of violence.

We know you are worried. We know you are frustrated. But we are human, and verbal/physical abuse of our staff will not be tolerated.

Please be patient, please be kind. Help us to help you.