Anyone who has ever tried to get a GP appointment in England will be familiar with the “8am scramble”, as you phone your local surgery desperately hoping to get through. Many surgeries open their telephone lines at 08:00, meaning that if you want an on-the-day appointment, you have to phone on the dot at 08:00. This can prove a source of frustration, with receptionists often at the sharp end of patients’ upset.
The Tudor House Medical Practice in Nottingham has almost 7,000 patients and is increasingly busy. Receptionists Jayne Bond and Sandra Brewster are part of a four-strong team and are often overwhelmed by the demand for appointments. “When the phone lines open, it just goes manic,” Sandra said. The practice has recently upgraded its telephone system, but high demand means some people inevitably miss out on appointments.
The government has stepped in to address the issue, pledging to end the early morning phone “scramble” for appointments. In February, it confirmed a deal to give an extra £889m a year to general practices. The new contract says patients should be able to arrange appointments online throughout working hours, freeing up the phones for those who need them most.
Practice manager Tricia Gibbons said patients are getting more used to not always seeing a GP. The surgery now has an expanded team of health professionals, including an advanced nurse practitioner and a clinical pharmacist. Tricia stressed that the doctors are always there to offer back-up, but the model is about giving doctors more time to focus on complex cases.
Dr Jonathan Lloyd, a GP partner at the surgery, said demand for primary care has gone up hugely since he began working as a doctor almost 30 years ago. The number of appointments the average patient has each year has increased, and people have got older, with more suffering from dementia and chronic disease. He said accessing primary care across the country is a big problem, but most patients are comfortable knowing they might not always see a doctor.
Latest annual figures from NHS England show that record numbers of appointments were offered by GP surgeries in 2024-25, with almost two-thirds face to face. Four out of 10 appointments at surgeries are with doctors, and the rest with other health professionals. More than half of appointments were booked at least a day ahead, with the rest on the same day. Katie Bramall-Stainer, who chairs the British Medical Association GPs’ committee, previously said that the new government deal could see patients begin to notice a difference in six to 12 months, but the overall situation is “nowhere near a solution”.
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