Revealed: GP practices in Lincolnshire where most patients face long waits

The GP practices in Lincolnshire where patients are most likely to wait longer than two weeks for an appointment have been revealed in new figures.

The Government said the new data published by NHS Digital – which gives detailed information on appointments and waiting times for individual GP practices across England – will help patients "make a more informed choice about the practice they choose to visit".

But the move has not been welcomed by everyone, with the Royal College of GPs criticising the lack of context around how different practices operate.

A total of 500,062 appointments took place at GP practices in the former NHS Lincolnshire CCG area in October.

At least 124,911 (25%) of these had taken place more than a fortnight after being booked, and of those, 49,317 (10%) saw patients wait longer than 28 days.

In Lincolnshire, the practices with the highest proportion of appointments occurring after a fortnight were:

Brant Road and Springcliffe Surgery – 52.4% of 3,906 appointments took place more than two weeks after they had been booked in OctoberCaythorpe and Ancaster Medical Practice – 52.1% of 6,407 appointmentsStickney Surgery – 48.6% of 4,310 appointmentsThe Bassingham Surgery – 44.6% of 5,579 appointmentsGlebe Park Surgery – 43.8% of 1,702 appointmentsSwingbridge Surgery – 43.5% of 3,384 appointmentsChurch Walk Surgery – 43.1% of 2,771 appointmentsThe Glebe Practice – 42.6% of 5,650 appointmentsThe Welby Practice – 42.3% of 4,050 appointmentsHolbeach Medical Centre – 41.3% of 5,087 appointments

At the other end of the scale:

The Deepings Practice – just 4.8% of 12,391 appointments saw patients wait longer than a fortnight in OctoberMarket Rasen Surgery – 7.4% of 11,435 appointmentsHereward Medical Centre – 8.9% of 12,412 appointmentsCaistor Health Centre – 9.8% of 4,264 appointmentsSutterton Surgery – 10.1% of 1,991 appointmentsCaskgate Street Surgery – 10.4% of 7,250 appointmentsThe Spalding GP Surgery – 10.6% of 1,759 appointmentsAbbeyview Surgery – 11% of 4,867 appointmentsLittlebury Medical Centre – 11% of 6,070 appointmentsHawthorn Medical Practice – 11.3% of 6,352 appointments

NHS Digital cautioned that GP workloads can be affected by several factors such as the demographic of patients registered at the practice, how deprived the area is and the number of care homes the practice offers services to.

The new practice-level figures come as part of the Government's "plan for patients", which includes a new ambition for every patient to get an appointment at their GP practice within two weeks.

However, the RCGP said the Government should address the root cause of GP pressures – including recruitment and retention of doctors – "instead of lumbering a struggling service with new expectations".

Chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: "A record 36.1 million consultations were delivered in October, almost 40% of these on the day they were booked and more than 71% delivered in-person, the highest proportion since before the pandemic."

Prof Hawthorne said GP workloads have escalated while the number of fully qualified full-time equivalent GPs has fallen by 719 across England since 2019.

"GP teams are just as frustrated as patients when they don’t have the resources and time to deliver the high standard of care to patients they want to, and in some areas where the pressures are even greater, this is happening more," she added.

Meanwhile, Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said primary care should engage with patients and find out their priorities, such as whether face-to-face appointments are priority for them, to help the NHS improve triage and resource prioritisation.

This week, the Government set out plans to overhaul NHS pension rules in an attempt to retain more senior doctors in the service.

Launching an eight-week consultation, ministers said the proposed changes would also remove barriers to retired clinicians returning to work – including new “flexibilities” to allow retired and partially retired staff to return to work or increase their working hours without having payments to their pension reduced or suspended.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the proposed changes "will help open up extra appointments so patients can see their GP and consultants more quickly".