Patients face NHS postcode lottery for GP appointments in Greater Manchester

New data shows that getting a doctor's appointment can be much harder in some parts of England than others.

In our region, a total of 1.3 million appointments took place at GP practices in March. However, over 125,000 of those had been booked more than three weeks earlier. It works out as 8.5% of all appointments and is up slightly from 8.2% in February, but down from 9.1% in January. But some places in the region had even longer waits like Springfield House in Oldham, where some 39.4% of appointments at the practice in March took place more than three weeks after booking.

In London, though, wait times are much shorter. Just 3.6% of appointments at GP practices in North Central London last month took place more than three weeks after being booked. That’s the lowest proportion in the country. “This means that many patients who want to be seen as soon as possible have shorter waiting times for their appointments – although we also are still catering for those who want to book appointments further in advance.

“Every GP practice is upgrading their telephone systems to make it easier for patients to contact their surgery, while patients can use the NHS app to order repeat prescriptions and view their test results without needing to contact their family doctor.

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