Strain on GP services sees record number of patients waiting over a month to see a doctor: "Red flashing warning light for the NHS"
STRAIN on GP services sees record number of patients waiting more than a month to see a doctor, new data shows.
A total of 4,081,543 people in October had their GP appointment over 28 days (a month) after they booked it – a 5.3% increase on October 2024's figure of 3,876,794 and a 56% increase on October 2023's figure of 2,616,591.
That’s the highest number ever and the first time it’s passed four million.
The total number of “more than 28 day” appointments in 2025 was 18,830,485 – a 9.1% rise on 2024 when it was 17,253,163.
Appointments over video and online surpassed three million for the first time in October 25 with 3,197,196 appointments – up from 2,814,580 in Sept 25
Imran Khan, co-founder of QuantumLoopAI, said AI could help solve the backlog.
He said: "GP waits tipping past four million ‘over-28-day’ bookings in a single month is a red flashing warning light for the NHS. When the message to patients is 'call at 8am and compete for a slot', you create a daily surge that overwhelms reception teams.
"It doesn’t just feel stressful – it drives longer waits, as routine needs get recycled through the same bottleneck until the only option left is weeks away. The fix is to use AI to spread demand and route patients correctly first time.
"AI that acts as an intelligent digital front door that captures symptoms in plain language, flags urgency, offers safe alternatives like pharmacy or self-care where appropriate, and books directly into the right appointment type — remote, face-to-face, same-day or scheduled – without forcing people to 'try again tomorrow'.
“AI is the solution that can also predict peaks and release slots in staggered waves, making access fairer across the day and restoring continuity.”
Rohit Parmar-Mistry, Founder at Burton-on-Trent-based Pattrn Data, agreed that AI could help.
He added: "The 8am phone scramble is a national embarrassment. We’re forcing sick people to compete in a lottery just to speak to a receptionist who is already overwhelmed by manual admin and irate callers.
"The record four million people waiting a month aren't just a statistic, they're a result of process failure. In my work with professional services, we see the exact same pattern: experts glued to computers, ticking boxes and chasing paperwork instead of doing their actual jobs.
"Currently, we have doctors acting as expensive data entry clerks and receptionists acting as punchbags. The solution isn't chatbots. It’s using automation to handle the drudgery. We should be using AI to manage the booking bottleneck and transcribe notes in real-time so doctors don't forget to book blood tests as they're buried in forms.
“We automate the bureaucracy, we buy back the thing the NHS is running out of: time to actually care for patients. Let technology handle the paperwork so doctors can handle the people.”
Patricia McGirr, Founder at Burnley-based Repossession Rescue Network, said she has first-hand experience of the bottleneck.
She added: “GP access is now so broken that ‘urgent’ is meaningless. My urgent medication review has been kicked back twice and is two months late. Then my husband was sent for urgent care due to results from an MRI scan, and still spent nine hours in a waiting room with people who were mostly waiting for antibiotics and pain medication because they couldn’t get a GP appointment.
"None of this is about lazy staff. It’s a system held together with goodwill and the luck of the draw in the 8am shotgun start for the surgery switchboard. If AI can take even a slice of that pressure off, it is a tech upgrade that could make the difference between being seen and being forgotten.”
Kate Underwood, Founder at Southampton-based Kate Underwood HR and Training, said the issues with the NHS are causing more people to struggle on without seeing a doctor.
She continued: "If you are waiting over a month to see a GP, it is not a health service, it is a lottery. From a small business point of view, this is a nightmare. Staff call at 8am, sit in a queue, finally get through and are told the first appointment is in four weeks.
"So they either drag themselves into work feeling awful, or stay off sick with no real plan because nobody has actually seen them. You cannot win. Online and video appointments help for simple stuff and repeat meds, but they do not cut it for ongoing pain, mental health or anything that really needs a proper once over. Those cases just get kicked down the road.
"For small businesses that means longer absences, more burnout and a lot of ‘I am not well, but I will come in anyway.’ Managers get pushed into half doctor, half counsellor, when all they really want is their team to be able to see an actual GP before the next bank holiday."
Samuel Mather-Holgate, Managing Director & IFA at Swindon-based Mather and Murray Financial, said it may be easier to go private.
He added: “There are pockets in the country that are horrendous for getting to see a GP when needed. The government need to use management information as AI to drill down into this data and facilitate more personnel in the places where needed.
"Although this shouldn’t be a requirement, there are so many good value private GP services via apps now, if you need to see a doctor urgently and have £30-60 to spend you can see one the same day and get a prescription or a referral that you need. This might be a way to take pressure of the NHS.”
Riz Malik, Director at Southend-on-Sea-based R3 Wealth, agreed, adding: "Having given up on trying to arrange to see an NHS doctor, I subscribe to a service that usually sees me virtually within hours, from the comfort of my desk or home.
"The private prescription is then sent to my phone, where I can take it to any pharmacy. It costs me a monthly fee, but what price can I put on my health? If I am not fit, I can't work, and my business, staff and family suffer."
