Patients had 2.7 appointments each with a GP a year in 2026, unchanged since 2019
Appointments per registered patient over the past 12 months, England, February 2019 to August 2026
Latest figures
| Series | Period | Value |
|---|---|---|
| All appointments | 12 months to August 2026 | 6.1 |
| With a GP | 12 months to August 2026 | 2.7 |
| With other practice staff | 12 months to August 2026 | 3.2 |
Notes
- An appointment is any booked slot with a member of practice staff: face to face, by phone, by video or online, or a home visit. A patient seen three times counts three times.
- In all, GP practices recorded 388.3 million appointments in the 12 months to August 2026, 4.6% more than in the 12 months before, counting the few practices that didn't send figures as NHS England does for its England total.
- Each figure is the appointments in a month divided by the patients registered at the practices that sent figures, added up over 12 months. Practice lists count some people twice or after they have moved away, so there are more registered patients (63 million in 2026) than people living in England.
- Other practice staff include nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, paramedics, physician associates, health care assistants and social prescribing link workers. A few appointments (about 3%) don't record who the patient saw, so the two lines add up to a little less than all appointments.
- Each point covers a whole year, so the flu vaccination season each autumn doesn't make the lines jump.
- The figures count appointments recorded in GP practices' own systems. They leave out COVID-19 vaccinations from December 2020 and appointments booked only in separate primary care network systems.
- NHS England publishes these as official statistics in development: practices record appointments in different ways. Each edition covers about two and a half years, so months to February 2024 come from the August 2019, August 2021 and February 2024 editions, and later months from the latest one.
- This is England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland count GP appointments separately.
Sources
- NHS England, Appointments in General Practice (summary, Table 1a)
- NHS England, Appointments in General Practice, August 2019, August 2021 and February 2024 editions (summary, Table 1)
More on public services
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- 74.4% of A&E attendances in England were admitted, transferred or discharged within 4 hours of arrival in September 2026, and 50,582 patients waited over 12 hours from a decision to admit them
- Ambulances in England took a mean of 31 minutes 18 seconds to reach Category 2 calls, such as strokes and heart attacks, in September 2026