Responding to the latest GP appointment figures from NHS England Ruth Rankine, primary care director at the NHS Confederation, said:

“These new figures show the staggering amount of work that GPs and their teams are doing, with a record 38.5 million appointments in October. This is up significantly on last year and well above pre-pandemic levels.

“It is clear that general practice is running extremely hot going into winter – just like other parts of the NHS – and is likely to get worse with the expected rise in winter viruses still ahead of us. As recognised in Lord Darzi’s report, primary care is doing more work for a lesser share of the NHS budget. This is simply not sustainable and will make delivering on the government’s commitments of moving from treatment to prevention, and delivering care closer to home, significantly harder to achieve.

“Primary care is the front door of the NHS, but it is facing increasing demand and costs with fewer providers. The rise in Employer National Insurance Contributions could further exacerbate the problem with providers having to make staff redundant or close their doors permanently if these costs are not reimbursed by the government.”