Practices are struggling to deliver same day appointments, according to new data which shows GPs seeing increasing numbers of patients in person.

In February practices delivered 27.3 million appointments compared with 25.4 million a year earlier, according to new NHS England data. Practice leaders said the data showed the continuing pressure on general practice – calling for rapid action to improve GP numbers.

47.4% of appointments were delivered by GPs compared with 47.7% in January and 49.7% in February last year, according to the data. 69.9% of appointments were in person compared with 61.3% in February last year. 44% of appointments were the same day compared with 45% a year previously and 45.3% in January.

NHS Confederation director of primary care Ruth Rankine said: “Demand continues to remain high and general practice is continuing to go above and beyond, providing 1.37m appointments each day in February – 10% more than the same month pre-pandemic – with nearly seven in 10 of these delivered face-to-face. The proportion of same day appointments fell very slightly from the previous month, which might be down to patients having less severe complaints as we move out of winter. Whilst this shows that the focus on access in the forthcoming primary care recovery plan is the right one, overworked staff can only do so much.’

“While investment in digital and telephony systems is welcome, if there aren’t enough clinical staff to see patients, then access will remain a stumbling block. The long overdue workforce plan must address how it intends to increase the number of GPs to meet the government’s target of 6000 extra by 2025, and more importantly, how these roles are to be funded.”