Mapped: Which areas face longer GP waiting times as figures grow under Labour

Labour has been accused of a ‘damning failure’ with new figures showing 7.6 million people had to wait over four weeks to see a GP

Hundreds of thousands more people are facing waits of over a month for GP appointments since Labour got into power, new analysis has found.

Around 1.7 million people had to wait over a month for an appointment in November, the analysis from the Liberal Democrats claims, 246,625 higher than when Labour took office in July last year.

The research also finds that 7.6 million patients had to wait more than four weeks to see a GP over the autumn (between September and November), up by over 300,000 since the same period last year.

Every English region has recorded an increase in patients waiting over a month, although some have seen much larger increases than others.

The NHS trust that has recorded the largest increase is NHS Northamptonshire, rising by 47.31 per cent since July 2024. This is followed by NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire, with a 40.73 per cent rise.

However, the largest increase in terms of the number of patients waiting was recorded by NHS Sussex, with 18,409 more patients waiting longer (an increase of 29.76 per cent).

In the same period, some trusts recorded only a small increase, such as NHS North West (up 0.63 per cent) and NHS West Yorkshire (up 1.11 per cent).

Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, Helen Morgan MP, said: “Nobody should be forced to wait over a month to see their GP, and yet millions of people across the country are being left waiting anxiously, in pain or needing treatment. In desperation, many people are having to turn to our overwhelmed A&Es to be seen.

“GP services were left teetering on the edge by the Conservatives, but the fact that waits have worsened represents a damning failure by the Labour government too.

Hundreds of thousands more people are facing waits of more than a month for GP appointments (Getty)

“Liberal Democrats would breathe life back into our GP services, with a new legal right for every patient to be seen within seven days or 24 hours if urgent, so that no one is denied care when they need it.”

Conversely, the NHS waiting list for referral to treatment has dropped from 7.6 million to 7.3 million since Labour took office in July 2024. This figure has remained broadly steady since April this year.

The Department of Health and Social Care has disagreed with the Liberal Democrats’ analysis, saying it is not “correct” that patients are being made to wait longer. A spokesperson said: “These figures are being misrepresented as requests for ‘urgent’ appointments but include long-term condition reviews and follow-up appointments which are often booked well in advance to suit patients.”

“Over the past 16 months, this government has invested an extra £1.1bn into primary care, recruited an extra 2,500 GPs, and halved the number of targets so GPs spend less time box-ticking and more time caring for patients. As a result, patient satisfaction with general practice has improved after a decade of decline.

“GP teams have delivered 6.5 million more appointments in the last 12 months, up from 378.2 million to 384.7 million, with 2025 set to be a record year.”