Total practice appointments in England dropped in April amid unprecedented demand as the country emerged from the worst of the pandemic, according to new data.

Appointment numbers slumped in April following a record March – leading to GP leaders to raise concerns about a new responsibility, for weight management, to be imposed on practices. The British Medical Association said the data highlighted “immense pressures” on GPs and their teams. It cited one GP’s account of undertaking 15 consultations an hour amid other administrative tasks.

According to the NHS Digital data, there were 23.8 million practice appointments in April compared with 27.1 million in March. More than 45% took place on the day they were booked. Practices also undertook 7.5 million COVID vaccinations in April, about 550,000 more than in March.

The British Medical Association said it was objecting to plans for a new enhanced weight management service, which would place further pressures on practices. BMA GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said: “Whilst the BMA believes that it is vitally important as a nation much more is done to help and support people with weight management – and particularly for government to take greater steps to address the underlying issues behind rising obesity levels – today’s announced enhanced service is fundamentally flawed, will have little to no impact in tackling the problem, and will present significant rise in workload at a time when practices are at breaking point.”

Dr Vautrey added: “Today’s figures highlight the immense pressures that GPs and their teams continue to operate under, as they battle to provide care to their communities alongside the ever-increasing workload generated by the pandemic and associated backlog of patients needing care. The data is a stark indication that this is not only an unsustainable way of working, but also that practices – often understaffed and woefully under-resourced – are starting to crack as a result. It’s testament to general practice that in April, the majority of appointments were done the same day as booking.”

A GP log, published by the BMA, reads, in part: “Non-stop phone calls and e-consults, interrupted four times by team members needing me to review urgent ECGs and by reception needing advice on how to manage difficult questions from patients. In total in this 1.5 hours did ten phone consultations and eight e-consultations.”