Only four in ten (40.3%) of people were able to get a same-day appointment with their GP in October, a two-year low, NHS figures published this morning have revealed.
Meanwhile over one in four (28.8%) people had to wait eight days or more for an appointment, the highest level since before the pandemic in February 2020.
The Liberal Democrats said the figures showed the government must urgently fix the GP recruitment crisis, and warned that delays to GP appointments are piling more pressure on A&Es ahead of a difficult winter.
It comes after Health Secretary Sajid Javid admitted on Sunday that the government is not on course to meet its target of recruiting 6,000 more GPs by 2025.
Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: “People across a country are struggling to get a GP appointment because of the government’s dismal failure to recruit more doctors.
“This is having a devastating knock-on impact on our hospitals, as people who can’t get an GP appointment desperately turn up at their local A&E instead.
“Boris Johnson must urgently get a grip of this crisis ahead of the challenging winter months ahead.
“People want to see concrete action now so they can get an appointment with their GP when they need one. Instead all we get is yet more broken promises from a Conservative government that is running our health service into the ground.”