Almost 2 million patients a month are now waiting more than a month to see a GP in England, according to NHS data, as lengthy delays for appointments continue to rise since Labour took office.
NHS figures show 1,770,000 people waited longer than four weeks for a GP appointment in November, according to analysis by the Liberal Democrats.
Across the autumn period as a whole, between September and November, 7.6 million patients waited more than four weeks to see a GP, up by more than 300,000 compared with the same period last year.
More than one in five patients – 21 per cent – waited at least two weeks for an appointment.
In total, 2025 looks set to have the longest waits for a GP appointment since records began five years ago. Figures from January to August showed 12.9 million people waited at least four weeks, compared to 5.8 million in 2020.
The Liberal Democrats said the figures showed access to primary care is worsening, despite reforms announced by the Labour Government.
Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, said: “Nobody should be forced to wait over a month to see their GP, and yet millions of people across the country are being left waiting anxiously, in pain or needing treatment.
“In desperation, many people are having to turn to our overwhelmed A&Es to be seen.”
The party is calling for a GP rescue package, including a legal right for patients to be seen within seven days, or within 24 hours if urgent.
The South West saw the most significant regional increase, with a rise of 23.7 per cent compared with July last year. Several local areas recorded sharper increases. In Northamptonshire, the number of patients waiting over four weeks rose by 47 per cent.
The figures come as the Government presses ahead with reforms aimed at improving access to general practice, including expanding online booking and consultation systems.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has lauched a range of reforms that aim to end the 8am scramble for GP appointments (Photo: Lucy North/PA Wire)Ministers have said the changes are designed to end the “8am scramble”, when patients are forced to call surgeries as soon as phone lines open.
Under the 2025/26 GP contract, practices in England are required to keep online consultation systems open throughout core hours, from 8.00am to 6.30pm. NHS figures show 98.7 per cent of GP practices now have online access switched on for the whole day.
The Government claimed earlier this month that a record 8 million online appointment requests were submitted in October, around one-fifth higher than the previous month and two-thirds higher than a year earlier.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said the reforms deliver on a manifesto commitment to modernise the NHS and improve access to care.
However, the British Medical Association has warned that the changes risk overwhelming already stretched GP practices and could worsen access rather than improve it.
Dr Katie Bramall, chair of the BMA’s GPs committee, said in September that the introduction of all-day online booking “will likely lead to the creation of hospital-style waiting lists in general practice”.
She warned that family doctors could end up seeing fewer patients face to face because they would be “too busy assessing the all-day stream of requests for a consultation”.
In a statement, the union said: “Online systems currently cannot distinguish between non-urgent and urgent patient queries, and with practices already understaffed and overworked, GPs fear this could lead to potentially serious and life-threatening problems being delayed or missed entirely.”
Alongside the digital reforms, the Government points to what it describes as record investment in primary care and early signs of improvement elsewhere in the system.
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Funding for the GP contract has been increased by £1.1bn to around £13.2bn for 2025/26, a 7.2 per cent cash rise, with ministers saying the uplift will help practices recruit staff and manage rising costs.
The Government says more than 2,500 additional GPs have been recruited over the past 16 months and that the number of administrative targets has been cut so doctors can spend less time on paperwork.
The Department of Health was contacted for comment.
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