The latest general practice appointment figures, released by NHS England, show that 1,036,644 appointments were offered in Kent and Medway in October 2022. Of those appointments, more than 680,000, were face-to-face or home visits.
With an estimated population of 1.8 million people in Kent and Medway, it means that 55 per cent of the population accessed general practice services in October.
Compared to pre-pandemic data, 874,135 for October 2019, this is an extra 162,509 appointments available for the month.
The data also shows that more than 69,000 people did not attend their appointments in October.
We would urge anyone who can no longer attend any appointment (be it with their GP practice, a vaccination appointment, or a hospital appointment) to please cancel them. This allows the NHS to use the time to see other patients in need.
Sukh Singh, Director of Primary Care at NHS Kent and Medway, said: “These figures reflect the hard work that all those involved in primary care have put in to make sure the public have access to the services they need. General practice is changing, and has to change to be able to deliver these record breaking appointment figures. One of the ways we are supporting general practice is by helping them to employ other specialists to work alongside GPs, such as physiotherapists and social prescribers. By growing the teams around the GP more people can see the right person more quickly.”
General practices, like many other areas of the NHS, are seeing an increase in the demand for the services they provide. Being able to offer more than one million appointments shows the changes being made in primary care are enabling more people to be seen by their general practice teams.
See more information on general practice here.