GP Appointments
Over 27.6 million standard (non-Covid-19 vaccination) appointments were booked in August 2024. An average of 1.32 million appointments were delivered per working day during August, a slight decrease from the previous month (1.36 million appointments).
This is the lowest average number of standard appointments delivered per working day since August 2023 (1.28 million appointments per working day), but also more than in August 2022 (1.21 million).
From September 2023 to August 2024, approximately 363 million standard appointments were booked.
In terms of access, 45% of appointments in August 2024 were booked to take place on the same day, a slight increase from the previous month (44%).
Nearly 83% of appointments were booked to take place within 2 weeks in August 2024, the same as the previous month.
Around 65% of appointments were booked to take place face to face, the same as the previous month.
Around 44% of appointments were delivered by a GP in July 2024, the same as the previous month.
GP Workforce
The NHS had the equivalent of 27,807 fully qualified full-time GPs in July 2024 – an increase of 145 FTE GPs since the previous month. We have the equivalent of 1,557 fewer fully qualified full-time GPs than we did in September 2015. During this time, there has been a rise in the number of patients, with August 2024 seeing yet another record-breaking number. GPs are now responsible for about 18% more patients than in 2015, demonstrating ever mounting workload pressures.
In August 2024, the NHS had the equivalent of 27,807 fully qualified full-time GPs – an increase of 145FTE GPs since the previous month.
Over the last 12 months, there has been an increase of 561 fully qualified FTE GPs.
Between September 2015 and June 2023, the NHS had been losing FTE fully qualified GPs at an alarming rate. While recent gains are positive, they have not been sufficient to make up for historical losses. We still have the equivalent of 1,557 fewer fully qualified full time GPs than we did in September 2015.
The GP Partner workforce in particular has been shrinking rapidly since 2015. There were 16,386 FTE GP partners in August 2023 but 15,925 in August 2024: a total loss of 461 FTE GP partners in the past 12 months alone.
Including GP registrars, there were a total of 38,461 FTE doctors working in general practice in August 2024, an increase of 1,498 FTE from July 2024. This increase includes an additional 1,353 FTE GP registrars from the previous month.
The number of GP practices in England has decreased by 89 over the past year – reflecting a long-term trend of closures and mergers.
This fall in both GP numbers and practices coincides with a rise in patients: as of August 2024, there was another record-high of 63.47 million patients registered with practices in England – an average of 10,139 patients registered per practice.
As a result, each full-time equivalent GP is now responsible for an average of 2,282 patients. This is an increase of 345 patients per GP, or about 18%, since 2015.
Please note that the fully qualified full-time equivalent GP statistic is the sum of partners, salaried, retainers, and locums only – GP trainees are not included.
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