A tax loophole could be used to fund the training of more GPs, Labour has said as the party highlighted growing waits for appointments.

The party stressed it wanted to recruit more doctors after medical organisations criticised an earlier version of its statement, alleging patients were being “denied” appointments. The party’s analysis found that in October five million patients were unable to book appointments, representing 13.8% of potential appointments.

Another two million people faced a delay of a month or more in getting appointments. The analysis is disputed by the Department of Health. Labour proposes taxes on non-dom tax status to raise funds to increase training of GPs and nurses.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “Patients are finding it impossible to get a GP appointment when they need one. I’m really worried that among those millions of patients unable to get an appointment, there could be serious conditions going undiagnosed until it’s too late. Twelve years of Conservative failure to train the staff our NHS needs has left it with thousands fewer GPs, and patients are paying the price. Meanwhile they are protecting the non-dom tax status, allowing people who live in Britain to pay their taxes overseas. We need doctors and nurses, not non-doms. The next Labour government will train a new generation of doctors and nurses, paid for by abolishing non-doms. Patients need doctors’ appointments more than the wealthiest need a tax break.”

Responding to an earlier version of the announcement, Dr Kieran Sharrock, acting chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee in England, said: “Party leaders and ministers should know that a dwindling workforce is the real reason GPs cannot safely keep up with patient demand, so actively demonising GPs who are trying their best to deliver care is only making the problem worse, and encouraging more talented professionals to leave the NHS. Rhetoric from the Labour Party, and others, suggesting GPs are ‘denying’ patients care, or ‘preventing’ them from seeing a GP is disingenuous and inaccurate.”

He added: “Across the country, demand dramatically outweighs capacity, and we know it can be difficult for patients to get the care they need, when they need it. We absolutely share that frustration, which is why practices often triage appointment requests to make sure patients can still see an appropriate healthcare professional, even though it might not be with a GP – for example, a practice nurse, or a physiotherapist based in the community.”

Royal College of GPs chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: “Many GPs are running on empty and burning out. This isn’t safe for them or for their patients and it’s leading many to face the difficult decision to leave the profession earlier than they planned – and when more GPs are leaving the profession than entering it, it does not bode well for the future. Highlighting problems patients are having accessing general practice services shouldn’t be done by criticising and demoralising hard working GP teams, who are doing their absolute best in extremely difficult circumstances to meet the healthcare needs of their patients. Access to GP services is important, but it is only a starting point to ensuring our patients receive the safe, personalised, and appropriate care they need. Ultimately, we need more GPs, more members of the practice team, and serious efforts to reduce spiralling GP workload, so that we can deliver safe, appropriate and timely care for patients.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “This analysis is inaccurate. This survey was published in July this year using indicative data and since then it’s been confirmed there were 36 million appointments carried out in October, a 5.3% increase on the same time last year. We are improving access to general practice so everyone who needs an appointment can get one within two weeks – including by recruiting more support staff and rolling out state-of-the art telephone systems to make it easier to get through to surgeries.”