Patients often wait a week to see a GP – and it is likely to become routine, senior doctors have warned.

The Royal College of GPs says the trend to keep patients waiting could be reversed if the government honours promises made by former Prime Minister David Cameron to invest in general practice.

According to its analysis, published yesterday, by 2020 patients will wait a week to a see a GP on nearly 100 million occasions.

In the last year this happened more than 69 million times.

The college said there was also a growing trend for patients to decide not to seek health care after failing to get an appointment. This happened some 9.4 million times last year – potentially leaving significant symptoms unexamined.

The college says there could eventually be 60 million of these occasions annually.

Government plans had proposed to spend £2.4 billion extra on general practice annually.

College chair Dr Maureen Baker said: “The fact that, on the current trajectory, patients will not be able to secure an appointment to see a GP at all on 60m occasions is frankly flabbergasting.

“All the evidence shows that general practice is in crisis, and that crisis is worsening.

“However, having recognised the scale of the meltdown, the government, under David Cameron, announced plans to save general practice and help pay for a service that could consistently meet the needs of our patients.

“We now need a guarantee from the new Prime Minister, the new Chancellor and the Health Secretary that the NHS England General Practice Forward View will be delivered in full.”