Practices are responding to public pressure by delivering more face to face appointments and home visits in spite of falling numbers of fully qualified doctors, according to the latest data.

In total, practices in March delivered 27.1 million appointments of which 18.3 million were face to face, according to the NHS Digital data published yesterday. This was 16% more than in February – partly because March has more working days. For the first time NHS Digital has reported on the time taken on appointments, showing that 4.6 million consultations took place in five minutes or less. It also shows that 5.2 million consultations lasted for longer than 30 minutes. The data also showed a reduction of 646 in the number of qualified GPs in the last year, a 1.7% decline. Between February and March the number declined by nine. Including trainees, the GP workforce increased by 239 or 0.5%, representing 45,280 doctors.

Royal College of GPs chair Professor Martin Marshall said: “It is clear from today’s figures that GPs and our teams are continuing to work incredibly hard, delivering more than 30m patient consultations in March – more than in the same month before the pandemic – with 44% on the same day they were booked. The data shows that GP teams are trying their best in the face of intense workload and workforce pressures to ensure their patients receive timely and appropriate care. GPs and our teams are doing a very good job in difficult circumstances. Ultimately, we need more GPs and more members of the practice team.”

British Medical Association GP committee chair Dr Kieran Sharrock said: “Last month appointments in England were up by 4 million – while GP numbers continued to spiral downwards. This is completely untenable for practices, for GPs and for patients. This trend, of demand rocketing while we haemorrhage doctors, is pushing the remaining staff to breaking point as they take on more and more each day, to a point which is not safe for them and certainly not safe for patients. While today’s figures demonstrate practice staff going above and beyond to meet the needs of their patients, working at these unsafe levels is not sustainable and will only drive more GPs away from the profession – leaving more patients without their family doctor.”