Five-day wait to see GP for 20% of patients

Patients are waiting too long to see their family doctor, even for urgent conditions, and there is little hope of GPs meeting the Government's target of a maximum 48-hour wait, a survey has revealed.

Only half of patients were able to see a doctor on the day they called the surgery or the next day and one in five had to wait five days. Nearly one in 10 waited longer than a week.

The findings, based on a survey by Which? magazine of 1,200 adults from across the country, shows there is still a long way to go to meet the pledge that all patients will be seen within two days by 2004.

Even for those with urgent conditions, treatment was not always available promptly. Half were seen on the same day but 30 per cent had to wait at least two days and 13 per cent waited five days.

Ministers say they are determined to cut waiting times for primary care, which research has shown is a main area of dissatisfaction with the NHS. The British Medical Association says the target is impossible to meet without more staff and resources, and has demanded an extra 10,000 GPs.

But work by the National Primary Care Collaborative, a coalition of 2,000 GP practices serving 11 million patients, has shown queues can be cut without extra staff or resources by re-organising workload. The average waiting time among the practices in the coalition has been reduced by 60 per cent in two years using measures such as telephone consultations, referring patients to a nurse and timing appointments for less busy periods.

Dr John Oldham, the head of the National Primary Care development team, said: "It is about looking systematically at what you do and understanding each day what is the true demand."

A spokeswoman for the BMA said: "There is a question whether everyone needs to see a GP within 48 hours. This is a political initiative rather than one based on improving health outcomes."