The survey comes after Labour announced a £485 million boost for family doctors.
Difficulty contacting their practice had put some people off seeing their GP (Image: Getty)
Millions of people are going without the care they need as almost half (48%) of adults avoided or delayed contacting their GP about a health concern last year, a survey reveals. Top reasons for putting it off included difficulties contacting their practice, opting to wait for the problem to go away, and not expecting to be offered a suitable appointment.
Two in five (42%) of 2,200 adults surveyed by the Health Foundation and Ipsos believed the general standard of care provided by the NHS had worsened in the last year. Only one in eight (12%) believed it had improved. Tim Gardner, the think tank’s assistant director of policy, said: “Our findings signal that too often people are going without the care they need, which risks storing up health problems further down the line and placing more strain on an already stretched service.”
Chris McCann, acting chief executive at Healthwatch England, said: “People consistently tell us that GP services are becoming harder to use and that simply getting through the door for care can be a challenge.
“For example, we often hear from individuals who wait in long telephone queues for an appointment, only to be told that all slots have been taken for the day and that they must try again tomorrow.”
Ruth Rankine, of the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, said primary care was a crucial “front door” for patients seeking help.
She added: “It is, therefore, disappointing that this polling shows that so many patients lack confidence in booking appointments with their GP due to concerns over access, choice and GP capacity.”
Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown, chair of the Royal College of GPs, described the findings as “worrying”.
She added: “GPs are working harder than ever, with over one million appointments delivered in general practice every day across England, and 46% on the same day as the booking.
“But we recognise that too many patients are still waiting too long for appointments or are anxious that they won’t be able to get the care they need when they need it.
“This polling shows yet again that improving access to general practice remains top of the public’s list of priorities for the NHS, but the only way to address this is with investment and support.”
The poll comes after the Government announced a £485 million boost for family doctors in England to implement the new GP contract for 2026/27.
Ministers said the cash would improve access to same-day appointments for urgent cases and support practices to increase capacity by recruiting more GPs or increasing sessions among existing GPs.
Healthwatch England said it often heard from people stuck in long telephone queues (Image: Getty)
Practices will also be required to keep online consultation systems open throughout core hours, from 8am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. Other measures include cash incentives for GPs to improve childhood vaccination coverage and prescribe weight loss jabs.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting insisted Labour was “fixing the front door to the NHS”. He added: “We’re giving practices the flexibility to hire more GPs, and backing them with extra funding to do so. As a result, many more patients with urgent needs will be able to get an appointment the day they contact their practice.”
However, the British Medical Association — which was one of a number of stakeholders consulted over the contract — warned the announcement may create “more unrealistic expectations” for patients.
Dr Katie Bramall, chair of the BMA GPs committee, said: “We expect the Government to frame this GP contract as a major win for patient access, but hard working family doctors will be deeply concerned about setting up even more unrealistic expectations of unlimited same‑day urgent care provision.”
The BMA also objected to being part of a group of stakeholders, rather than being allowed to negotiate the contract changes directly with ministers.
Dr Bramall added: “It has been disappointing to see the new Labour administration break from this norm for no discernible benefit.”
The funding boost brings the total increase in spending on primary care announced by Mr Streeting to £1.6billion over two years. Almost £300 million of existing funding will be ringfenced for improving GP recruitment and increasing capacity.
Practices will also be allowed to use a funding initiative called the Additional Roles and Reimbursement Scheme to recruit experienced GPs for the first time, rather than just newly qualified doctors.
Prof Tzortziou Brown said the contract contained “some steps forward in tackling the workforce crisis in general practice, but we can and should go further to ensure general practice is ready to support ambitions to deliver more care close to home”.
She added: “The only way to boost access to general practice is by having more GPs on the ground to deliver the care that patients need and the contract indicates an intention to shift funding to allow practices to hire additional GPs or fund additional sessions.
“This is something the College has been calling for alongside the BMA and others, and we now need to make sure the details are right so that this results in more GPs on the frontline.”
Nuffield Trust director of research and policy Dr Becks Fisher said GP funding was rising more slowly than the Department of Health and Social Care’s day-to-day budget.
She added: “One of the likely reasons will be the trade deal with the USA to drive up medicine costs, with another being money held back in case other parts of the NHS overspend.”
Meanwhile, the British Dental Association accused the Government of having “double standards” for failing to pay the same attention to dentistry budgets.
Shiv Pabary, chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee, said: “The Government says it’s fixing the NHS’s front door, but a generation of savage cuts has left one part of it hanging off its hinges.
“Applying double standards to dentistry means promised reforms may well fail. Without needed investment we will continue to see practices struggling to remain viable, and millions unable to access the care they need.”
National Pharmacy Association chief executive Henry Gregg said it was “disappointing to see a formal contract offer announced for GP colleagues before the government have even begun consultations for community pharmacies”.
He added: “With just 37 days to go to the start of April and the new financial year, the clock is ticking. Pharmacies are still left in the dark as to how they will meet looming cost increases being imposed on them.
“As equal members of the primary care family, they need certainty so they can plan and invest for the year ahead to deliver vital services for their patients.”
The most recent British Social Attitudes survey for 2024 showed that satisfaction with GP services had fallen to 31%, the lowest level since the survey began in 1983. Almost two thirds of people said they were dissatisfied with the length of time it took to get an appointment at a GP practice.
The Department of Health and Social Care said patient satisfaction was rising after a decade of decline, with data from the Office for National Statistics in December showing that 75.1% of people reported that contacting their GP was “easy”, up from 61% in July 2024.
Unlimited online access is pushing GP surgeries to breaking point, says DR TAMARA KEITH
Dr Tamara Keith (Image: -)
As GPs, we are seeing more patients than ever before, yet our surgeries are struggling to cope with the sheer scale of demand. In recent months, the surge in online consultation requests has added a new and significant pressure to already stretched services.
Digital access can absolutely be a positive development when it is introduced safely and backed by the right level of staffing and resources. But offering effectively unlimited online access without increasing workforce capacity creates unsafe queues and unmanageable demand.
It increases the risk to patient safety — no GP wants a system where a patient with red-flag symptoms is sitting in a digital queue.
I’ve seen how urgent cases can become buried in between mundane requests, and we are now forced to divert time away from face-to-face appointments in order to triage online submissions all day, which we know is not what many patients want or need.
My colleagues and I are increasingly seeing patients submit urgent health concerns through non-urgent online forms and the opposite, that we are so easy to access that patients consult about common sense issues!
The shift to a total triage model has fundamentally changed my working day. We’ve had to adopt total triage because unlimited online access is simply unmanageable otherwise.
Every day, we lose a doctor to reading and sorting triage requests, and there is no meaningful way to say we are “full.”
Since Covid, many people seek consultations for illnesses that would once have been managed at home, often wanting proof they’ve sought advice, sick notes, or treatment “just in case.” The “Amazon prime” generation wants immediate access whether it is urgent or not for convenience.
On my worst day, the same patient has submitted multiple requests until they got the appointment they wanted. At the same time, I’m constantly asked for input from a growing number of non-doctor clinicians. Their queries aren’t built into the rota but are squeezed between appointments.
Ultimately, I carry responsibility for their decisions, adding significantly to my workload and stress.
We all want to preserve the model of the trusted family doctor, providing continuity of care to our communities. But that cannot be achieved without proper funding, new money not the same funds rebadged, freedom to spend the money on who we as a practice wish to employ and a significant expansion of the GP workforce, and safe, sustainable workloads.
I welcome that the new contract says ARRS funding can be spent on any GP which is a positive development.
The message from those of us working on the frontline is clear: without urgent action (meaning increased funding for a GP doctor workforce) the NHS is heading into a perfect storm of overwhelming demand, exhausted staff, and avoidable patient harm.
If meaningful support is not put in place now, general practice risks being on the brink of collapse which will merely increase pressure on secondary care further.
— Dr Tamara Keith is a Cambridge GP and spokesperson for Rebuild General Practice
